


collateral damage

by catastrophes



Category: Wanna One (Band)
Genre: Canon Compliant, Denial of Feelings, Friends With Benefits, Gay Chicken, Implied/Referenced Homophobia, M/M, Switching, have fun sinners
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-23
Updated: 2018-10-23
Packaged: 2019-08-06 09:18:38
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 29,621
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16385384
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/catastrophes/pseuds/catastrophes
Summary: the rule is easy enough: first person to drop their nerve and chicken out, loses.however, when does a game remain just a game?





	collateral damage

**Author's Note:**

  * For [koroshiyas (lucitae)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/lucitae/gifts).



> dearest kuro, happy 2018. 
> 
> didn't think it would be _this_ fic ahem, but i'm still deeply honored to have been able to write a gift for you. you're one of my favorite authors in this fandom and your beautiful writing never fails to awe me, and leave its mark. thank you for being you, and letting me be in your life. i tried to write something that i hope hit at least a few of your favorite tropes~ hope you like it!

 

 

 

 

 

The overarching game starts off unintentionally.

In fact, it begins silently even before they can both explicitly indicate so.

But it does regardless, and Seongwu realizes the moment they cross the invisible threshold.

It takes place in the most unlikely environments as a game within a game—in front of the rest of Wanna One, hoards of fans, along with a sea of cameras that will likely capture and record every single interaction in catalogue forever.

However, Seongwu isn’t focused on anything else except Hwang Minhyun standing in front of him on stage, holding a pepero stick in one hand.

Past the escalation of loud cheering noises from the audience and how the members are teasingly egging them on in the background, Seongwu can only tunnel vision on the way that Minhyun’s hand brings the stick up, to place it in between his full, pouting lips.

It’s not like he’s unused to the pepero game as it has always been a familiar ice-breaker activity during orientations (a staple during his high school and college years), but for some peculiar reason, there’s just something especially different about it today.

Seongwu reminds himself it’s because he’s never been one for overt fan-service just for the sake of it, instead liking to dole out affection on his own terms, rather than within a forced scenario in front of thousands.

A small voice from the recesses of his brain says it’s actually more likely because he’s never had to be _this_ close to Minhyun before and he doesn’t want to make it weird between them.

Although why it would be, especially being just a simple _game_ between friends, he has zero clue.

Minhyun looks at him dead-straight in the eye and almost seems to be able to pick up exactly what he’s thinking. He doesn’t say anything though, just beckons with his index finger and Seongwu half feels like he’s been cast under a spell.

Seongwu clears his throat before stepping forward.

When he gets where he deems definitely close enough, Seongwu leans in to wrap his mouth around the other end of the stick. He keeps his hands by his side, unsure where to place them. They dangle, fists opening and closing uselessly.

He knows, the whole point of the game is to win by leaving the least amount of biscuit between them.

And God, does Seongwu want to win.

Ever since young, he’s always had the fiercest competitive streak and he absolutely can’t lose out to the other members, otherwise he would never live it down for days to come.

Trouble is, winning means getting as close as possible to locking lips and even just the thought of that sets Seongwu’s insides on fire.

It’s not the general actuality of being opposed to kissing another male on the lips, Seongwu thinks.  

It’s because it’s _Minhyun_.

They’ve always had a comfortable relationship between them, being same age friends, but skinship has never been something that has come easily to them as a pair. A hug here and there, a consolation back pat, or perhaps a resting arm on the shoulder, sure—but never anything more.

Seongwu has not really had to think about the mechanics of it, nor had to contemplate the dynamics between him and Minhyun so closely, until now. But, physical touch between them shouldn't be a big deal, because friends can do this and not have lasting consequences right? 

Really, lips are lips and it's just a game. 

With valiant effort, Seongwu brings himself back to reality, back to the present. He attempts to keep his actions gentle and slow, in a bid to make sure that the fragile pepero doesn’t break prematurely.

Before he can control them, his own arms rise up of their own accord for his palms to brace against Minhyun’s wide chest. Their bodies are only centimetres apart and the proximity is strangely making Seongwu almost delirious.

Their faces are so close together now that Minhyun’s features become a blur, losing detail. Seongwu can only send thanks as it makes it easier for him to ignore the way that for whatever reason, there’s a heat crawling up the back of his neck.

Minhyun stands there patiently for Seongwu to finish the rest of the pepero.

Seongwu continues nibbling down the length. He is so focused that he barely even registers Minhyun’s palm coming to cup the back of his head, and his own fingers automatically grasping Minhyun’s button down shirt to gain purchase.

But despite the easy enough action expected of him to just chew and get it over with, a feeling of hesitance begins to erupt within him as he moves nearer and nearer to Minhyun’s lips. 

Seongwu wants to believe the way his senses are currently being overpowered, is because of:

  1. the din of commotion that the entire venue is making
  2. the fact that he’s been awake for the last 36 hours



But truthfully it’s probably due to: 

  1. the increasing warmth emitted from Minhyun
  2. the combination of the two scents that is so uniquely Minhyun—peach blossom and laundry detergent, making his head spin



Brain, _what_?

Seongwu halts his actions, rooted in place.

He can feel Minhyun’s strong gaze boring back at him, as though a command for him to end it well.

Almost as if in a silent dare.

A dare that he would have completed without qualms if he were a braver man, standing in front of a different person, but unfortunately all Seongwu can do is nervously break off with too much to go and a growing puddle of his own sweat.

He turns back in resignation to face the rest of his band members who all loudly taunt him with playful jeers for dropping out. Seongwu tries to retain an unaffected facade, though he’s unsure why his heart feels like it’s about to burst out of his chest. 

“Your piece is the longest so you guys lose. You’ll have to do the punishment,” Jisung exclaims gleefully as he holds up the pepero to a ruler. 

Seongwu retorts, flustered, “It—It was just an accident! I didn’t mean to bite down so early!” His hands flap agitatedly. 

“Accident or not, losers are still losers!” Daehwi sings out, far too eager to hold this over his hyungs' heads.

Seongwu’s eyes darts around in discomposure and embarrassment, skimming over the members before landing to lock with Minhyun.

Seongwu swears he can see a spark of glitter within the darkness of them, however it passes so fast and he’s unsure whether it’s just a reflection from the bright lights aimed directly at the stage, or if it’s something _else_.

“It’s fine Daehwi, we’ll take the punishment fair and square. It’s just a game anyway, isn’t it Seongwu-yah?” Minhyun smiles, corners of his lips quirking upwards in a way as though he knows an inside joke that Seongwu isn’t quite privy to.

“What else,” Seongwu fires back, though not completely certain where the faint hint of challenge he hears edging his words comes from.

Minhyun nods before directing his next sentence towards the fans. “And we all know that our Seongwu here isn’t the best at games and is a bit of a coward so we won’t rub it in too much, or he’ll get upset with all of us, okay?”

Everyone simultaneously bursts into laughter, agreeing with the sentiment but all Seongwu can say in response is a very eloquent, “Hnggh.”

 

 

 

✗

 

 

 

Seongwu only manages to regain the rest of his normal conversational repertoire when he pulls Minhyun aside backstage, on their way back to the dressing room following the end of their fan-meeting.

They find themselves in a partially hidden alcove, tucked away from prying eyes and curious ears.

It’s a tight fit but it’ll make do.

“Just to get the record straight, I am _not_ a coward,” Seongwu announces with great dignity once he’s sure they’ll have some privacy. “Just because I _accidentally_ broke the pepero off too early doesn’t mean you can besmirch my reputation like that!”

“Accident, my ass.” Minhyun coughs as he tries to hide the wide smile that Seongwu knows is stretched across his face, behind his fist.

Seongwu prods Minhyun’s chest lightly in retaliation. He whines sulkily, “It really was!” Of course, he himself knows it’s a lie but what Minhyun doesn’t know won’t hurt him. “I can’t believe you’d sell me out to everyone like that.”

“Stop overreacting.” Minhyun laughs, a soft bell-like sound which is normally completely inoffensive, but it just makes Seongwu squint sceptically today. “Though you have to admit—” Minhyun begins as he settles to lean back against the plaster surface, crossing his arms. “It’s merely the truth since it’s not like you’d ever have the _guts_ to.”

Seongwu’s eyes narrow.

Minhyun always somehow manages to say the one particular thing that drives him a little insane and nothing aggravates Seongwu more than that. And with Minhyun recently discovering that targeting his pride was the ultimate weapon, it has made it especially more painful.

“It’s not about bravery. I already told you it was a mistake,” Seongwu tosses back, becoming slightly exasperated by Minhyun’s accusation.

(Yeah, he's going to the grave with this lie.)

There’s something unnerving about the way that Minhyun just calmly looks back at Seongwu in silent answer. He lifts both shoulders up in a casual shrug before finally drawling out, “Sure, if you say so.” He punctuates his next sentence with coughs at the start and at the end. “Mr I’m-allergic-to-physical-affection Ong Seongwu.”

A strangled noise escapes Seongwu’s throat. “Excuse me?”

“You heard me,” Minhyun has the gall to reply.

He hastily plays back through his memories to figure out why Minhyun would imply that, and—

“Oh. I see. I mean I know that I’m generally not that touchy-feely as a person, and of course, this whole pepero thing—” Seongwu fights a snort. “Is that why you think I'm afraid of skinship?”

“If the shoe fits,” Minhyun answers simply, raising his hands, palms up. 

Seongwu’s mind screeches to a halt, like a tape player that gets jammed. He is well aware that he isn’t the most tactile person, not particularly one to initiate with others but it’s not like he shuns any physicality that the members deign to give him.

Really, he just likes to show his own affection and friendship in other ways instead, so is that something to castigate him for?

“Why does it even matter to you?"

Minhyun smiles disarmingly. “It’s just intriguing that’s all.”

Seongwu lets out a noise that is both confusion and frustration wrapped up into one. “Well, I really don't have a problem with it. I don’t know if you saw, but I even hugged Woojin and piggybacked Jinyoung today.”

“Huh,” Minhyun lets out the one mono-syllable. Is that _hurt_ on his face? “So, I’m right in saying that it’s _me_ you have issues with then?”

“Now you’re just putting words into my mouth!” Seongwu quickly exclaims back.

“Actually, you know, I’ve thought about this for a while and you always act super stiff if I ever come near you.” Minhyun folds his arms. It’s defensive but Seongwu feels like the one being attacked. ”This whole pepero game _accident_ thing is just icing on the cake, and I wanna know why.”

Seongwu’s head is a messy swirl of confused thoughts, trying to grasp for an answer. 

He ignores the voice that keeps trying to remind him of the way that close proximity with Minhyun has always felt different to when it was with the others. He tells himself it’s always just been the way with him.

“I guess it’s just me as a person,” Seongwu finally mutters and as fast as the words emerge, an inkling of an idea dawns upon him and he’s gotta try at least— “But wow, I didn’t pick you to be the jealous type, Minhyunnie.”

Seongwu almost misses the way Minhyun’s face is a surprising jumble of emotion for a millisecond and it’s gone in a flash when Minhyun replies flippantly, “Me? Jealous of your hugs when I can get it better from anyone else? Yeah, that’s totally why I’m calling you out on it.”

“Then why do you care?” Seongwu questions, wondering how they even got here.

“I just don’t like thinking you might have something against me,” Minhyun says, slight vulnerability to his voice now. “Do you?”

“Of course not!” Seongwu utters loudly, before he continues in what he hopes is a steadier tone in an attempt to placate Minhyun, “How can you possibly even think that of me?”

There’s a small pause where all they can hear are echoing footsteps in the distance.

“Prove it then,” Minhyun answers quietly. “Prove to me that you don’t have a problem with physical touch or with me.” It’s almost as if Seongwu feels the words rather than hearing it with the way that goosebumps pop up under his stage outfit.

Seongwu is now fully aware of how Minhyun is far too close to him. He sends Minhyun a careful look. “What are you getting at?”

“Do skinship with me,” Minhyun proposes bluntly.

Okay, that was _not_ what he'd expected.

The gears churn through Seongwu’s brain, that stuck tape player from before working again—however this time in hyper-speed. Seongwu blurts out, “You want me to—hug you? Right now?”

Minhyun clicks his tongue. “As much as I'd like that... no, that would be far too easy,” he murmurs before taking a further moment to deliberate. Seongwu can almost hear his own heartbeat thudding loudly in his ears. “Wouldn’t be as fun.”

“ _Fun_?” Seongwu wonders out loud. "Is this just a game to you?" 

It's a charged moment when Minhyun just takes in Seongwu with a contemplative gaze, and Seongwu feels as if he's laid out completely bare. 

“Mhm, if you'd like it to be. Actually Aaron-hyung once told me about a game that people played from when he used to live in America, and maybe—we could try it out instead.” Minhyun's eyes are wide and guileless, the picture of innocence. “Want to hear about it?”

Seongwu should have said no, but does he ever listen to himself?

“Not particularly, but well, go on then,” Seongwu replies, both dread and morbid curiosity creeping upon him.

“So, there’s only one rule and it’s pretty simple: first person to drop their nerve and chicken out, loses.” Minhyun explains further, “It can be anything. You know, like holding hands, hugging or... really anything else you want. So yeah, we can use it as a test of sorts if you're up for it.”

When Seongwu doesn’t reply (but only because he’s in the process of trying to untie his tongue at Minhyun even knowing a game like this, not because he’s afraid—again afraid of what exactly, he’s still not entirely sure), Minhyun chuckles.

A hand comes up as if to touch Seongwu's hair but Seongwu quickly jerks to the left causing it to brush his cheek instead.

Minhyun smiles, charming and soft but at the same time so completely dangerous. His eyes become even more fox-like. "Case in point."

“O-okay, that one was just purely out of reflex!" Seongwu argues. "It's... unnecessary touching and I still don’t think I need to prove anything to you.” He rubs his clammy hands against his pants legs, attempting to mop up the nervousness that permeates his entire being and hopes like hell he soon figures out why he's acting so skittish in the first place. 

He may not be one to initiate skinship generally, but he doesn’t usually have a problem with it.

Except obviously with Minhyun, his brain supplies unhelpfully.

“It’s fine, you can just tell me that you’re too scared to lose,” Minhyun replies airily, expression on his face one of faux pity.

“Stop saying that!” Seongwu flushes, feeling his heart rate accelerate. “I’m not scared. I’m just—“

“A. Coward.”

It’s clearly obvious that the direct barb was intended and chosen specifically to gain a rise out of him—exactly what Minhyun wants, but Seongwu just can’t stop himself from acting upon it the moment his brain processes the short phrase.

Seongwu immediately propels himself forward in answer to push his nose right up against Minhyun’s. He relishes the quick hit of satisfaction with the way he’s seemingly managed to catch Minhyun off guard, the other back-pedalling in surprise.

Seongwu takes another step. He places his palms against the cool wall, bracketing either side of Minhyun’s face.

The small space seems to contract further around them, narrowing as though to squeeze the air out of Seongwu’s own lungs. He bites the inside of his cheek, trying to distract himself from the way that it feels like the hottest furnace on the earth has magically sprouted in between them.

Annoyingly, Minhyun’s initial surprise apparently fast settles because he doesn’t even flinch when Seongwu moves in closer to crowd against Minhyun’s body. Seongwu repeats, “How many times do I have to say, I’m not a coward.”

“You sure about that?” Minhyun shoots back, amusement in his tone. His tongue darts out to run along his lower lip. Lips that Seongwu can’t help but allow his gaze be drawn to, again. “Like I said, prove it. You’re always all talk and no action.”

Fuck.

All of this is a brand new feeling, and Seongwu almost hears the blood rushing to his head.

He isn’t sure how Minhyun can be so calm, like it’s absolutely nothing to him to be this close and tactile with another person—a friend. Like it doesn’t matter, as if this kind of situation is simply… just a normal occurrence to him—and with that one conclusion, Seongwu’s decision is made.

“Fine, you’re on because I can definitely handle you, and this and whatever else you want to throw at me,” Seongwu says, squaring his shoulders, in an effort to assert his dominance. “I mean we’re professional idols and this is just a regular part of what we do so I'm sure this will be just as easy as dancing...," he trails off lamely, wishing he could feel as confident as his words sound.

“Calling it fan-service practice?” Minhyun’s eyes crinkle as if hearing something funny. "Management did say that we should show more bonding since fans like seeing us together."

Listening to Minhyun’s words, Seongwu definitely isn’t unaware to the love that they've received as a pair, really, it's hard to avoid scrolling hashtags, but it's not like he's going to purposefully do skinship with Minhyun in front of fans just because the pencil pushers advised them to. 

He's never been particularly agreeable with this aspect of the industry, having never wanted to fake affection, _ever_.

But perhaps, maybe, if the fan-service was out of their own inclination—hold up, _rewind_ —Seongwu shakes his head vigorously and wonders if he's currently being hypnotized by how red and slick Minhyun's lips look up close. 

Because why is he even focused on Minhyun's lips again?

Fuck times two.

Seongwu pinches his thigh to deliver himself from such unfamiliar thoughts. 

“What about you though, think _you’ll_ be able to cope with me pouring on the skinship? I mean I have it on good sources that I'm pretty irresistible," Seongwu jokes cautiously, because what else can he do in this ridiculous scenario that he never once dreamed he'd ever find himself in?

"I'm... sure I can withstand anything you want to throw at me," Minhyun answers, still pinning him with that all-seeing gaze. Seongwu ignores the hot puffs of air he can feel, or how close they are right now with their bodies practically standing flush against one another. 

Seongwu shifts from one foot to the next, not liking the way his legs feel like lead. "Big words."

All Minhyun replies is, "Trust me, like I said, it’ll be fun. For the both of us. I like skinship; you need to learn how to get comfy with it. Win, win.” He smiles again as he rubs his hands up and down the outer portions of Seongwu's arms as if to cajole him. “C’mon, don’t be a spoilsport.”

Seongwu swallows down, in an attempt to wet his sandpapered throat. He’s barely even listening to Minhyun anymore, becoming unduly focused on how pretty the color of Minhyun’s eyes are.

Fuck number what?

Aiming for impassivity but failing miserably, Seongwu shrugs Minhyun's hands off—breaks all contact with Minhyun to take a step back, to clear his mind from the haze. He's probably pretty damn stupid to have agreed to this madness, but it's too late now to back out, he supposes.

A heavy sigh escapes him.

What's the worst that could happen anyway? 

“I already said yes. But just so you know, I’m not going to lose, Minhyun,” Seongwu says brusquely, vow lingering in the air between them. 

Minhyun tuts as he advances again on Seongwu, closing the space between them. He leans in, lips hovering close to Seongwu’s own—

But before Seongwu can even think about being on the defensive, Minhyun stops. He murmurs, “You backed away just before so actually, it means you already lost round one." His breath, a hot caress against Seongwu’s face. It causes him to jolt, like electricity coursing through his veins.

Fuck for the millionth hour.

Maybe, Minhyun is right. Maybe it's true that he does have an unreasonable tendency of avoiding skinship, especially with Minhyun which will cause him to lose this whole game entirely.

Except, the good thing (or bad, depending which way you look at it) about Seongwu is that he’s stubborn as hell, and he really hates losing. 

So—

“Well, if I give everything up now, then where’s the fun in that?” Seongwu lets himself reply. Lets himself relax for the first time in this entire exchange because it’s high time to give Minhyun a taste of his own medicine.

“Sure, if that's what you want to call it,” Minhyun hums, still looking smug and never has Seongwu wanted to wipe that expression off Minhyun's face more than he does right in this one moment.

“Shut up. Let’s play.”

 

 

 

✗

 

 

 

Despite Seongwu’s initial (read: pretend) bravado, he spends the next few hours on edge.

His body jumps in anticipation every time someone comes up behind him, thinking it’s Minhyun ready for round two. Seongwu himself, can't deny that he feels sorta eager for it though—like a ball of energy, coiled up tightly, just waiting to be expended and used in any shape or form.

Minhyun has always been attractive to him. In fact one of the most handsome men he’s ever met, however it's never come with any clauses or excessive overthinking like how he is currently doing. Because when he casts back to their previous encounter, Seongwu is absolutely baffled to conclude that he probably wouldn’t have even pulled away had Minhyun really tried to kiss him there and then.

Friendship be damned.

But now out of the clutches of the weird trance that overcame him when they were plastered together, Seongwu convinces himself, he was just caught off guard. That it was just his brain overheating at the time, purely from the post fan-meeting exertion and humidity of the hidden nook.

However, no matter how hard he tries to forget it through dinner, and right now—waiting for the pick up vehicles, his traitorous mind can’t stop from reliving the way that Minhyun had felt against him, against the wall.

How sinfully good it had surprisingly felt.

Seongwu quickly takes a long drink from the water bottle he clutches tightly in his hand, muttering to himself to _get a grip_ under his breath.

Daniel who is milling around beside Seongwu, glances over with a concerned expression, “You good? You’re not still upset that you guys lost?”

“No—“ _Maybe_. Seongwu frowns grumpily. “Why would I be?”

“Because that death stare on your face right now is pretty strong, and you’re also about to squash this bottle to a pulp,” Daniel says, flashing him a grin. He gently helps pry Seongwu’s fingers off the plastic. “And I know how much you disliked the push ups.” 

“It wasn’t the punishment, but I suppose it did stem from the game,” Seongwu replies, tone maybe just a tad surly but he allows Daniel to take away his stress device. Sure, he hated every moment since exercise isn’t quite his forte, but he has much bigger fish to fry with Minhyun.

“What is it then?”

“I’m just—confused I guess? Minhyun and I got into a… disagreement earlier when he essentially implied I threw the game because I’m allergic to skinship, but see!” Seongwu insists, pulling up his and Daniel’s still clasped hands as evidence. “I don’t care if other people touch me.”

Daniel immediately cracks up. Seongwu looks back upon his group mate in bewilderment, unsure as to why Daniel would react in such a way. He waits impatiently for the raspy laughter to subside.

“C’mon,” Seongwu protests. “I’m not that bad am I? It’s not even like Minhyun normally tries to initiate either.”

“You’re kidding right? Minhyun is skinship king.” Daniel releases Seongwu’s hand and tosses the bottle up into the air. “He never goes an hour without having his arm around someone. Whilst admittedly, you don’t—not much to people around your age anyway.” Daniel shrugs. “But I laughed because it’s not really a big deal and definitely not something to be upset about. You guys get freakishly petty over the smallest things.”

“I’m saving that insult to deal with later, Kang Daniel. And, I meant initiating with _me_.”

“Oh.” Daniel says. He taps his chin as he ponders Seongwu’s words. “Come to think of it, you both do have an odd relationship with each other.”

“Huh?” Seongwu sends Daniel a puzzled look.

In a terrible rendition of Minhyun, Daniel starts, “Seongwu’s face is my ideal type,” before continuing dramatically, “I always pick Minhyun for visuals. Seongwu is such a talented dancer. Minhyun is so gentle and sweet that sometimes it drives me mad and so on. God, you guys always wax poetics over one another but it’s like physical touching would make you both combust.” Daniel’s forehead creases. “Hmm, I wonder why that is—”

“It’s because both of them are oblivious as fuck,” Jihoon interjects, having snuck up like a shadow behind them. His blunt statement earns a narrowed, enquiring stare from Seongwu. “Actually make that every single person out here, except me, probably.”

“What are you even talking about Jihoon?” Seongwu flattens his lips. “This is just how Minhyun and I treat each other and there’s never been any issues.” (Well, obviously there must’ve been, since he’s pretty much signed a verbal deal now.) But he wheedles out loud, “C’mon, tell me.”

“You’ll figure it out soon enough.” Jihoon smirks, as he strolls past. “If I tell you, it’ll just defeat the purpose of it.” He tosses a wink back over his shoulder as he makes his way towards the vehicle that has just pulled up with impeccable timing. “You’re smart enough, hyung!”

“Well, and fuck you too, Park Jihoon,” Seongwu bites off glumly at the idea that Jihoon knows far more than he does. It’s more petulance than anything else, but the tension cooped up inside him threatens to overflow at the slightest of nudges, making Seongwu more disoriented.

Daniel pats Seongwu’s arm. “Easy there.”

“Right. Just because I don’t like to play with someone’s hair or treat them like a bed and drape myself over them doesn’t mean I _dislike_ skinship. I just prefer it on my own terms, that’s all,” Seongwu complains, in spite of the comforting circular strokes filled with the intention of mollifying him. “I mean, _we_ don’t feel the need to have to hug all the time to show off how close we are, do we?”

“You’re right, we don’t need to,” Daniel soothes. “And I’m completely fine with it, but that’s something between you and I. Whilst on the other hand, maybe Minhyun-hyung just doesn’t understand because skinship comes so naturally to him so that’s why he’s riling you up.”

_ And asking Seongwu to prove himself because he thinks that Seongwu has a problem with him _ —

Seongwu sighs, lower lip jutting out. “When… did you get so insightful?”

“Hey, I’ve always been smart!” Daniel throws out in defence of himself. “ _Anyway_ , I’m guessing he probably holds back with you because sometimes it may come across as you not liking it, so maybe… if you initiate more with him, it’ll solve all your current problems?”

_Or maybe make more_ , Seongwu’s mind can’t help but think. 

Before Seongwu can answer out loud, the rest of the members finally spill out of the restaurant, so Seongwu just claps Daniel on the back and ushers the younger male towards the van that Jihoon is already situated in.

They each take a row for themselves, what with Jihoon occupying the front passenger seat. The rest of the group piles on one by one and if fate (or the spawn of satan) would have it, Seongwu finds Minhyun sliding into the remaining empty spot next to him.

He groans slightly under his breath. _Damn._

The car engine roars to life after they do their headcount and they begin to pull out of the rest-stop. Being far out of Seoul, it’s a long ride home. 

Usually Seongwu would listen to music and fall asleep immediately since it’s not like him to turn down any opportunity for rest, but for some reason, he can’t bring himself to take out his headphones and simply remains sensitive to Minhyun’s every movement.

After settling himself in for the journey, Minhyun tilts his face towards Seongwu to ask, “You good?”

It’s dark outside, but the changing lights from the outside scenery stream in to highlight the angles of Minhyun’s face. All sharp cheekbones and even sharper jawline lately, the weight loss from his ongoing gym craze for this particular tour is noticeable. 

It’s still a great look, but it also makes Seongwu want to buy him all his favorite meals. Strange.

“Yeah. Why wouldn’t I be?”

“Because of that,” Minhyun says, index finger coming up to poke at his forehead—in the middle of his eyebrows, making Seongwu aware of the frown he didn’t realize he was sporting. Seongwu shakes his head as if he’s getting rid of something pesky. “And because you’re still so jumpy.”

“Am not.”

“Are too,” Minhyun sing-songs.

“I’m absolutely fine,” Seongwu parries as he nestles his head between the seat and the window. “But whatever. Since we’re already on the topic, how _exactly_ does this game work? Like when does the next round start?” Seongwu asks quietly. “Because you’re going down.”

“That’s a little fast, don’t you think?” Minhyun quips, as his eyes crinkle with mirth. Seongwu almost chokes on his spit, coughing to ease the lump that suddenly appears in his throat. The mild sexual innuendo doesn’t go to waste and Seongwu pulls at his tightening collar. 

“Please stop. Dick jokes are clearly _my_ territory,” Seongwu manages to fire back. It's his attempt in keeping the situation breezy despite the dangerous thoughts flooding his brain. Somehow Minhyun always manages to keep him on the back foot and he doesn’t like this feeling. Scrunching his nose, he questions, “When did you start becoming such a master of them?”

“Guess when you spend too much time around someone, you start picking up their habits,” Minhyun says wryly. “Anyway, next official round starts whenever we want it to. But if you keep flinching every time I come close to you, you’re going to rack up a losing streak quickly.”  

“Don’t worry, I always play to win.” 

“Hmm, your track record proves otherwise,” Minhyun replies coyly. Seongwu doesn’t know how to reply without shooting himself in the foot because true (dammit) and just frowns at Minhyun before distracting himself by looking out the window.

The cityscape zooms past and Seongwu’s eyes soon start becoming bleary. 

He’s almost fallen asleep when he feels the littlest of strokes on his pinky, where his left hand is resting on his thigh. The movement is merely a flicker of sensation but even without opening his eyes, Seongwu can tell it’s the ghosting touch of Minhyun’s own pinky on his.

Seongwu immediately knows the second round he asked about has indeed just begun.

The second time the pad of Minhyun’s finger feathers past his knuckle, Seongwu quickly wants to retract his hand further into the safe confines of his body, but Seongwu knows that Minhyun would automatically register as an immediate loss so he leaves it as it is.

Seongwu senses Minhyun’s silent amusement, evident by the increasingly playful stroking—an insistent action that causes his forearm hair to stand to attention. He then hears Minhyun giggle softly, obviously aware of the grief he’s causing Seongwu and through the build up of frustration, Seongwu can only think of one thing to stop the blatant attack. 

Curling his finger up to grapple with Minhyun’s, Seongwu locks them into an intertwining grip, allowing their pinkies to notch together.

It’s not like Minhyun isn’t unable to extricate himself—Seongwu knows the tenfold strength Minhyun most likely has on him, but for the purposes of the mini-game, Minhyun seems to just play along, refraining from using his upper arm to pull away, just making a tiny, miffed noise.

Seongwu is glad his eyes aren’t open because he can already just imagine the probable pout on Minhyun’s lips and he doesn’t think he’ll survive it. So he keeps them shut and just luxuriates in the feeling of trapping Minhyun, even if it’s just a small part of him in a pinky promise lock.

Unfortunately the triumphant feeling doesn’t last long when Minhyun uses the tip of his nail to scrape gently against the fleshy part of Seongwu’s fourth one, and amidst the complacency, his tight hold slackens in response to the ticklish touch.

However, instead of pulling away free (honestly, Seongwu shouldn’t have expected otherwise), Minhyun does the complete opposite, manoeuvring his wrist deftly so to interlock _all_ their fingers in order to grab his hand fully. 

Seongwu’s eyes blink open in surprise to see Minhyun’s own lids resting shut, but the apples of his cheeks are high on his cheekbones, along with a cheeky slant of his mouth indicating that he’s obviously contented with the situation that he’s engineered. 

It’s not even like they haven’t held hands in the past—in fact they’ve done it plenty of times before, like when they’ve had to do an ending bow at a concert. But perhaps it’s due to them not having to perform it out of necessity, or that they are currently in a dark car, under the moonlight—

Because none of the previous hand-holds has felt quite as intimate as this particular one.

Seongwu remains frozen for all of a good minute, not sure what to do as Minhyun just continues to keep his eyes closed, acting like it’s normal for them to even be holding hands for a laugh. Not that either of them are laughing now which makes this all the more perplexing.

“What are you doing?” Seongwu stage-whispers in his effort to not to disturb anyone else.

“Just holding your hand,” Minhyun replies calmly, smooth voice washing over Seongwu.

Seongwu brows knit as he continues to stare at their conjoint hands with Minhyun’s palm burning in his. Minhyun is right, they’re theoretically _just_ holding hands and it shouldn’t be a big deal, so Seongwu doesn’t know why it makes his heart beat so rapidly. 

Like he’s a teenager again, interacting with his crush for the first time. 

“And are you going to keep holding my hand until we get home?” Seongwu questions dubiously, hoping his palm isn’t getting sweaty. Although come to think of it, maybe Minhyun would get put off and just keep his hands to himself and Seongwu can call this a win without losing face. 

“Well that’s the plan. Unless you wanna let go of it first,” Minhyun’s reply is swift, with just the right amount of provocation in his voice. 

“Yeah, not a chance,” Seongwu announces as he tightens his grip down, as though to spite, clinging on to it like it’s a life line—like he’s been told he’s never going to be able to hold Minhyun’s hand ever again—like even if you said it’s death or to let go, he’d choose the former.

All because he doesn’t want to _lose,_ let’s get that straight. 

“Okay then,” Minhyun squeezes back. “Guess you got your answer,” he continues, all without allowing their hands to disentangle or allowing that little shit smile that is so entirely Minhyun, to fall off his face. 

So, it seems Seongwu will just have to suffer through and hold Minhyun’s hand for the rest of the hour long trip then, because both his dignity and reputation is dangerously at stake here. 

Oddly though, there’s just—a strange sensation of fluttering in his stomach from the way that Minhyun’s thumb is now gliding back and forth, back and forth across the back of his hand, leaving a trailing wake of confusion within him.

Seongwu hastily tells himself that Minhyun is just trying everything he can to make Seongwu lose, and because he’s not going to let that happen, he ignores all the weird glitching his body is suffering right now as they continue to stay connected. 

Who knew that simply holding someone’s hand would be such a momentous occasion? 

But well, here Seongwu is. 

The warmth in his hand transmits to settle deep and heavy within him, and he tries his hardest to ignore it when Minhyun launches into a random conversational topic. At least talking, about both trivial and deep matters, is something that comes easily to them, which helps to distract.

For the next hour they talk about everything from the way that Woojin accidentally split his pants on stage, to conspiracy theories and UFOs, and the new song that Minhyun has been listening to. 

When Minhyun begins to steadily hum it softly under his breath, it soon begins to lull Seongwu back to the in-between state, finding himself almost nodding off to sleep again.

However just before the blanket of it can fully capture him, Seongwu remembers Daniel’s words from earlier, about doing more skinship with Minhyun—it suddenly reminds him of their still interlocked fingers, and inevitably there are far more questions than answers as he predicted. 

But Seongwu manages to come to one conclusion at least—that nothing matters anymore anyway, since this apparent skinship cold war has come to an end, with the glaring fact that he has completely and utterly fallen into Minhyun's trap.

 

 

✗

 

 

 

Seongwu spends the ensuing days unable to stop from thinking about the game.

He becomes very fast aware of this new tension that is present between them. His friendship with Minhyun normally being the opposite - usually effortless and easy, but it’s almost as if he’s been thrown into an entirely different parallel universe.

And it seems to only be on Seongwu’s side because Minhyun continues to joke and interact with him like he’s always done in front of the group—like he hadn’t been crowded up against a wall or like they hadn’t held hands for no particular reason.

It also doesn’t help that Minhyun starts giving him a crash course in skinship, content in having an excuse to push Seongwu’s buttons even further. A whisper in the ear at a fan sign here, a fix of a collar there—Seongwu allows it all to happen with only a smidgen of a grimace and gritted teeth.

Just to clear things up, it’s not because he hates it. 

Again, it’s not like he’s abhorrent of the way that Minhyun likes to express his friendship. Actually, the revelation that it’s probably the extreme opposite instead that is causing him to react in such a way, hits him like a block of lead:

Seongwu _likes_ the way that Minhyun has started heaping affection on him, maybe just a little too much.

He initially figures it’s because he’s _jealous_ of Minhyun. 

Because Seongwu knows he has personally never been truly confident with showing his affection for friends in such an overt manner, it’s inevitable that he wants it to come like second nature as it does to Minhyun.

Growing up, his family rarely showered him with hugs, merely using verbal words instead. More importantly, there also used to be a group of kids (bullies more like) in the area that would single out anyone that would act in what they remotely deemed as behaviour out of the norm. 

“Stop being so _gay_ ,” they would jeer. 

And having seen the consequences, Seongwu made sure to not to draw attention to himself regarding such actions. 

Although things have changed over the years—what with moving away from his old neighborhood to one that supported the overarching society’s apathy for simple skinship, Seongwu’s passivity towards it however, remains a habit that has become so ingrained into him.

When Seongwu joined Produce101 and allowed himself to walk on this road of becoming an idol, being exposed to the entertainment industry had further opened his eyes to a deeper world of even more excessive skinship. 

Not only just simple friendly endearment now, but also the idea of pushing the boundaries to entice fans, which was something that he had initially found difficult to wrap his head around. 

Over time, Seongwu has come to learn that in this occupation, in order to survive, sometimes calculated sacrifices need to be made. 

But it’s still not something that’s effortless for him. 

Therefore, to see Minhyun be able to easily sling an arm around a friend’s shoulders, or to pull them into a simple hug and feel comfortable in his skin without worrying internally about the bigger picture, continues to be something that is so infinitely enviable to Seongwu.  

Damn Hwang Minhyun and his ease with physical touch.

And it’s here that Seongwu uses it as an excuse for that inexplicable jealousy that creeps up upon him when he enters the hotel room that he had been allocated for the night and is faced with Jinyoung and Minhyun lounging on the bed together, Minhyun curled around the younger male.

Seongwu has never felt this way before, or at least never quite noticed the ever-growing, now torturous nagging inside of him that plagues him—the one where he is suddenly covetous of the way Minhyun’s hands is threading rhythmically through Jinyoung’s hair. 

But it’s more the idea that he’s jealous of wanting the art of physical affection to come easily to him, rather than just purely wanting skinship from Minhyun himself— 

Right?

Seongwu coughs, stepping further into the room.

Jinyoung tears his eyes away from the laptop sitting in front of them, the movement causing Minhyun’s fingers to still. Jinyoung says brightly, “Oh hi hyung, you’re back. We’re just watching a movie that Daehwi recommended and it’s really good. Do you want to join us?”

Normally, Seongwu would be happy enough to, or to visit Daniel or Jaehwan’s room and find something else to entertain himself with but tonight—tonight feels a bit different. He blames it on the fatigue edging his corners, from the exhausting concert they had just performed, and the gym work out he’d forced himself to run through in an attempt to dissipate the excess adrenaline in him.

“Sorry, Jinyoung-ie, it’s pretty late and I’m tired. Can you guys finish it another night?” 

Jinyoung thankfully acquiesces without complaints, though hanging around for another few minutes as he chatters animatedly with Minhyun about the contents of the film as Seongwu putters around the bathroom, stalling.

When the door slams shut signalling Jinyoung’s departure, it’s suddenly now so very quiet. Seongwu walks back out to the bed area, to see Minhyun carefully stowing the laptop away. He moves towards the left side of the bed, pulling the covers aside to slip underneath. 

Taking out his phone, Seongwu pretends to be engrossed in the screen.

However lying there, he can’t help but subtly stare at Minhyun who goes about his daily night-time routine. Minhyun who has never been that shy or reserved about his physique in private, easily unbuttons his shirt by the dresser mirror instead of heading inside the bathroom.

Seongwu feels almost as if he’s intruding. But he’s unable to avert his gaze, drawn like a moth to a flame. 

Minhyun makes some small talk that Seongwu can barely even concentrate to reply something coherent back to; really, it’s hard when his brain feels like it’s about to catapult out the hotel window. 

Minhyun’s fingers are deft and capable as they work down the fabric, and it very vividly reminds Seongwu of how nice they had felt intertwined with his own. But unfortunately it’s also hard not to begin imagining them skimming over other parts of his body, not just his hands and—Jesus Christ, Seongwu has to interrupt his own thoughts before they turn down a particularly dirty path.

It’s just Minhyun for god’s sake. 

But he can’t help it though, because suddenly seeing Minhyun like this—the increasing exposed smooth expanse of skin, the way his abs ripple with every breath he takes and how all the lines converge towards the V of his pelvis—

Seongwu can’t think of anything other than the trickling desire that makes him _want_.

Want what exactly? He’s not entirely sure, but there it is—the feeling deep in his bones. 

It’s not as if Seongwu hasn’t seen Minhyun’s body plenty of times before, since really, it’s not hard to avoid when they all have ten seconds flat to change outfits backstage, having to strip in front of everyone, or when Minhyun sat around his dorm shirtless previously. 

The trouble is, it’s never felt quite like this before.

Thinking clearly about it now, Seongwu knows he’s spent far too much time since the day they first spoke about the game, wanting to kiss him.

He’s thought about it watching Minhyun stretch during their recent dance practice, t-shirt riding up to reveal the same skin that he sees right in front of him now, thought about it whenever Minhyun purses his lips into that little pouting expression when he's frustrated at not singing something as perfectly as he wants, and thought about it whenever Minhyun just simply is, Minhyun.

Thought one thousand and one times about how those full lips would feel gliding over his.

And here, this unaccountable longing that Seongwu has, in wanting to do exactly that, scares the living shit out of him because it’s also coupled with the simultaneous need to explore every single plane of Minhyun’s body—to figure out whether it’s both as hard and as soft as it looks.

_Shit._ When did this happen?

Seongwu shifts in bed to adjust himself into a more comfortable position as he becomes fast aware of the fact that, embarrassingly, he’s begun to sport a semi. He tries to think of all sorts of undesirable things but the temptation to reach underneath the covers only just increases when Minhyun kicks off his trousers to stand there in his briefs.

When Minhyun wanders over to the luggage rack, Seongwu’s mouth goes as dry as the Sahara desert, at the sight of Minhyun’s ass muscles flexing, along with the way the pale thighs look sturdy and firm. Long, long legs that would feel amazing wrapped around his waist—

Seongwu grips the phone a little tighter in his hands.

He’s gone entirely mental.

It gets _worse_ when Minhyun bends over to pull out a pair of sweatpants and every nerve-ending in Seongwu threatens to burst into flames.

Seongwu quickly rolls over to place his phone on the bedside table, so he can push aside how attractive Minhyun looks right in front of him. Minhyun—his co-worker, his group member, his _friend_. It’s a struggle however, when all sorts of rated images keep flashing through his mind.

He shuts his eyes tightly, and can only hear the sounds of the covers shifting. 

Fuck, the images are still seared onto the backs of his eyelids and it doesn’t help when Minhyun is next to him now. 

It’s one thing to be faced with a half naked Minhyun standing upright, halfway across the room from him, and another thing to be so, so close, sharing the same blanket. The small distance between their bodies feels too fucking close.

Willing himself to fall asleep ASAP, it’s a failed attempt as Seongwu lies frozen, curled up on the corner of the mattress. The bed creaks as Minhyun fidgets around in his effort to get comfortable and Seongwu isn’t able to prevent the disgruntled noise that escapes his mouth.

“Sorry,” Minhyun mumbles in apology. His voice sounds closer than what Seongwu originally thought and Seongwu maybe wants to die at the way his body still wants to combust. “It’s kind of cold and you’re hogging all the blankets.” 

Seongwu snorts, clutching the duvet even closer to his chin before huffing. “It’s not my fault that you like being an exhibitionist instead of a normal human being that actually wears clothes in a freezing hotel room. Suffer the consequences.”

“Why are you being so grumpy?” Minhyun whines. “You know that I hate sleeping with a shirt on.” An icicle masquerading as a foot pokes into his bare calf and Seongwu jumps. Minhyun giggles at his reaction before continuing, “It’s just extra cold in here and you’re being purposefully selfish.” 

“There’s such a thing as personal space Min, and you should learn it,” Seongwu replies shortly. “I saw an extra blanket in the closet so go get it if you’re really that cold.” His limbs feel boneless but his brain can’t stop working overtime.  

There’s silence from Minhyun and for a moment Seongwu thinks the battle is won.

He should have known better.

Because Minhyun is always one step ahead.

Seongwu is caught off guard when he feels Minhyun’s chest suddenly sneaks up against his back, having come closer instead of clambering out of bed to get his own blanket as per Seongwu’s suggestion, or tugging the covers over to his end. 

“Hngh.” The one indecipherable noise that seems to be Seongwu’s only vocabulary recently when dealing with a handsy Hwang Minhyun, slips out. “What’re you doing?” Seongwu is two hundred percent awake now, aware there is only his thin t-shirt separating both their skin. 

“You need to teach me more about this concept of personal space, I think.” The words are delivered directly into the vulnerable area that is Seongwu’s nape as an arm snakes over to lock around his chest, and knees come to curl up against his, as their bodies line up together now. 

Before Seongwu’s brain short-circuits, he realizes that Minhyun is actually _spooning_ him. 

Seongwu’s heart actually skips in his chest as he takes in this surreal moment. He also tries not to think of the way that he most definitely has a very troublesome and inconvenient erection that probably needs to be taken care of, with his briefs growing tighter by the minute. 

However, preferably not in bed being cuddled by the object of his fantasies who obviously has no clue what he's feeling.

That’s right, he’s finally admitting to being attracted to Minhyun, but this doesn’t mean _anything_.

Seongwu takes a long breath, hoping that his voice doesn’t waver when he speaks. “Honestly, Min, you’re such a brat. Go back to your side.” 

His complaints come out half-heartedly because while normally he doesn’t appreciate any sort of contact when he’s trying to fall asleep, but for another very incomprehensible reason, the way that Minhyun’s strong arm wrapped around his stomach feels weirdly _nice_.

But it’s almost _too nice_ that it makes Seongwu fearful.

Fearful of his own emotions; fearful of the potential consequences.

Fearful of what would happen if Minhyun found out.

“Say go again and I’ll move,” Minhyun whispers softly. “Though if you do, just remember you lose.” The game, that’s right. Seongwu feels Minhyun’s smile, lips curving against the back of his shoulder and Seongwu shivers, before wincing, knowing that Minhyun can feel everything.

“Ugh, fine, do whatever you want,” Seongwu says in a resigned tone. "This isn't a big deal to me." He blinks in the darkness, fist clenching against the pillow. “Go ahead and steal all my body heat then, you thief.”

“Mhm, I will because it feels good.” Minhyun snuggles even closer in response and Seongwu doesn’t want to think of the way that he’s overwhelmed with unfamiliar arousal at the one hundred and eighty one centimetres of pure devilish charm glued to his back.

The aching down below that never fully went away comes back in full force and Seongwu is entirely grateful that he’s facing the opposite way—unsure if he can handle looking at the other male’s expression, especially if Minhyun knew just how much desire is pooling in Seongwu’s gut. 

Seongwu tries to sleep—attempts to count backwards from one hundred, but it’s difficult when he’s got a raging hard on for a shirtless singer with cold feet and soft hands wrapped up around him. Minhyun seems to have fallen asleep, steady puffs of warm breath hitting Seongwu’s neck. 

However, when Seongwu gingerly shuffles forward to gain some space between him and Minhyun, (maybe to even go to the bathroom to handle this _situation),_ Minhyun’s grip immediately tightens and teeth clamp down playfully against the muscle connecting his neck and his shoulder. 

“What the hell?” Seongwu yelps out at the surprise bite. He reaches up to rub at the victimized area, frowning. 

“I can’t sleep when you keep moving around so much,” Minhyun grouses petulantly. His legs tangle further with Seongwu’s, before tightening as if to lock him in place, making him almost yell out again in frustration. It’s as if Minhyun doesn’t even realize what he’s doing to him. “Stay still.”

“I’m trying! But how am I supposed to relax when you’re clinging to me like a barnacle?” Seongwu questions loudly as he wriggles to get free. However, he quickly stops when he realizes all he’s doing is rubbing his ass back against Minhyun, and in this sensitized state, it’s probably—not a good idea. For the both of them. “Please just—go get a shirt and let me sleep in peace.”

“Seongwu.“ Minhyun’s nose is also cold when it buries into the back of his neck making Seongwu squirm again. “I’m lazy, so if you honestly don’t care about losing this round then go ahead. Get the top for me—,” Minhyun pauses for dramatic effect, “— _chicken_.” 

Seongwu doesn’t respond straight away. 

He just exhales heavily when Minhyun’s hand absentmindedly skims down to rest on his stomach below the hem of his top. Hoping that Minhyun doesn’t realize that he’s experiencing an internal crisis over how close it is to his crotch, Seongwu growls back, “I’m _not_ chicken.” 

“So, you keep saying,” Minhyun taunts sleepily, provoking words washing over him. Minhyun’s foot is also now stroking over Seongwu’s leg and Seongwu has to bite the inside of his cheek because the simple rubbing action is getting too much. “C’mon, if you really hate it, go on, get it.”

He can’t pass up the idea of proving Minhyun wrong, especially if he doesn’t want to come across as a scared little cat, ready to run, so Seongwu strains against Minhyun’s vertical back hug, with all intent to propel himself on top of Minhyun and to cage him down. 

However, Seongwu is hampered by the tangled sheets and soon the pair grapple, both trying to gain the upper hand in what becomes an impromptu play-wrestling. Somehow through the push and pull, Minhyun manages to roll on top of Seongwu in one swift move.

Seongwu inhales sharply when he ends up becoming the prey instead, with Minhyun’s entire body weight resting completely against him. He bucks his hips, struggling to get Minhyun to alleviate some of the heaviness and suddenly, he freezes— 

Because there’s no point denying that Seongwu has been completely turned on for the last half an hour, but it now dawns on him that here, Minhyun is probably highly aware of it, the unmistakable evidence brushing against him even through multiple layers in this position. 

It’s quiet for a moment. Seongwu can just hear the steady inspirations from Minhyun, but they sound a little too measured, as if Minhyun is purposefully trying to control them and there’s this _look_ on Minhyun’s face that he can’t figure out.

Seongwu can feel the soft rise and fall of Minhyun’s chest as the other stares down at him, front teeth sunk into his lower lip. Shame floods through Seongwu but it’s all overtaken when Minhyun unwittingly adjusts his hips, shifting them into even closer contact.

A long groan is drawn out of Seongwu—sounding desperate even to his own ears. Minhyun’s thighs are straddled around him still and Seongwu has to swallow again, this time against an internal plea for friction and sweet relief, in response to the stagnant pressure against his cock.

Seongwu knows every shred of his self-control is fast disintegrating, the adrenaline that he thought he’d worked off, running high again in his veins to replace it. So much so that he almost doesn’t even care that their “just friends” status is rapidly going up in smoke.

But here, Seongwu is afraid. Not at the idea of skinship itself, but more afraid of the way that Minhyun—always looking so breathtakingly beautiful, with an undecipherable expression on his face, not even realizing how powerful he is—can so easily turn him inside out. 

Fuck for the nth time. 

Seongwu now fully accepts that he wants Minhyun so much that he can barely breathe, but he doesn’t know how to proceed without potentially royally fucking everything up. However, before he can come to a conclusion about how to act next, Minhyun saves him the decision. 

The hands that had been pinning Seongwu’s arms down immediately release when Minhyun ceases everything he’s doing to roll off Seongwu.  

Seongwu is left utterly confused for several seconds, just staring up at the ceiling, unsure how to make sense of what had just occurred. Perhaps... Minhyun isn’t as unaffected by him as he thought and _maybe_ , he finally has a chance in this game between them. Or—

Seongwu quickly pulls himself from the bed to walk over to the other side of the room, not wanting to contemplate the other possibility yet.  

He grabs the first top he sees, _his sweatshirt_ , and balling it up, he tosses it at Minhyun who is smart enough to not comment any further about the predicament they were in or Seongwu’s previous state. He just hauls himself up to silently pull the thick material over his head. 

It’s the baggiest one that Seongwu owns, and it drowns Minhyun who sits there amidst the messed up blanket, looking half ridiculous with a tuft of hair sticking out randomly, his face red and a bit sleepy and Seongwu’s heart leaps to lodge in his throat. 

Seongwu stares, and Minhyun stares directly back—it’s another very oddly charged moment leading from all the residual sexual tension, but then Minhyun laughs and makes a comment about him losing, and Seongwu can’t help but laugh in return. 

It’s a little forced, a little chaotic but it’s far easier to handle than what just happened. 

Because, Minhyun and him are _friends_. 

And friends shouldn’t be so attracted to each other, or talk about maybe, possibly wanting to fuck with each other. So, Seongwu doesn’t say anything further, and merely flops on his side of the bed, hoping to the ends of the earth that he can somehow will them both to forget _everything_.

 

 

 

✗

 

 

 

Thing is, from that sleepless night, Seongwu can only accept that the way he views Minhyun has two hundred percent, irrevocably changed. 

It defies clear logic, the amount of senseless desire he has now come to have for a group member, but there is… a small portion of him that knows the initial magnetism was there all along, and all it needed was obviously not so gentle prodding, for it to manifest into something so reckless. 

In hindsight, Seongwu probably should have placed a stop to the game there and then. 

Should have told Minhyun he wanted out and taken the full losing hit. However, it somehow remains an increasingly difficult task, especially when he can’t muster the tangible words to do so. 

Because despite the initial worry, Seongwu can’t help from replaying the past several encounters over and over in his mind, asking himself multiple times how they got to this point. And questioning what Minhyun means to him and where he wants to go from here. 

Especially with Minhyun also having given up the last round when he could have so easily won, it puts Seongwu on edge—call it a rapidly increasing curiosity in wondering why he'd done so. Wondering whether if Minhyun is just as affected as he is, that perhaps if Seongwu did instigate a round this time, maybe he might have the upper hand.

Either way, it just makes him want to see the entirety of this game through without backing out prematurely since  Seongwu can’t seem bring up any valid reason for ending all of this with Minhyun that won’t make him look like a coward or a chicken, because, again as always— 

It’s simply _just a game_ isn’t it? 

Although, there is now so much attraction bubbling away that it’s probably causing him to lose sight of rationality.  

Thus, the need for recklessness merely increases tenfold when Seongwu sits on the couch, tucked in the corner beside Minhyun as they wait for Jaehwan to finish recording his part. 

Here, it’s hard not to be so hyper-aware of Minhyun’s close proximity again, their thighs this time touching laterally, in a way that even through the two layers of jeans separating them, it still feels like it’s skin against skin. 

Seongwu clenches down on his teeth, reminding himself that most people don’t feel this way about their friends—their completely _platonic friends_. 

(Yeah, sure that’s all it is, his brain scoffs as usual.)

It’d been okay for the first few days following their shared hotel room shenanigans—easy to not have to come to terms with it when there’s nine other people between him and the devil, and a day so full of schedules and worries, that he had no time to contemplate unexplored scenarios.

Not until now, that is. 

Seongwu forces all the remnants of excuses down, and makes a fast decision to capitalize on an idea that suddenly springs into his mind to further the game. It makes sense that he might as well launch the next attack before being pushed into a corner again. 

To show that none of this matters.

To show that this attraction thing towards Minhyun lately is merely a manifestation of being cooped up for so long under rules and regulations—not allowed to have a romantic relationship with anyone else, and is something that he’ll hopefully get over soon enough on his own. 

And to show that two, after all can play at this game.

Stretching his right arm out, Seongwu rests it on the back of the sofa behind Minhyun. After several long beats, his fingers creep to play with the fine hair that line Minhyun’s nape, before he allows them to delve through the strands to scratch at his scalp gently. 

Minhyun doesn’t even jolt in surprise, so used to casual touch that it makes Seongwu purse his lips slightly. 

Both sets of their eyes stay trained on Jaehwan inside the recording suite for the following several minutes, and Seongwu at least takes consolation that Minhyun is becoming somewhat responsive to the obviously enjoyable action, head lolling back onto the cradle of his palm.

His thumb moves now to stroke circular motions, massaging Minhyun’s muscles. He then walks his fingers down along the line of vertebrae so to dip past the neckline of the t-shirt, continuing to work at the expanse of flesh under the fabric. 

Seongwu’s hand darts close to sensitive areas and he notices a shiver rolling through Minhyun as the other now begins to squirm under the touch. 

_Ah_ , finally, getting somewhere. 

Palm resting on Minhyun’s upper back, Seongwu twists over to whisper close to Minhyun’s ear, “Keep going?” Seongwu makes sure to hover his mouth against the skin of the shell for a moment longer than necessary because interestingly, it feels heated against his own cool lips. 

Pulling back, Seongwu is delighted to discover that the tip has turned pink.

He’s always know that Minhyun has sensitive ears that change colors at the smallest of things and today, he feels like this may just be his weapon.

“This is nothing,” Minhyun mutters, cheeks also equally pink but there’s a stubborn look on his profile. Seongwu knows it’s not going to be easy pulling a win from Minhyun. “Try your worst.” 

A further lightbulb moment strikes.

With the previous permission, Seongwu traces his fingers along the pretty ridges (why has he not noticed it before?), before sliding down to tug playfully at the lobe. It’s surprisingly _even_ more sensitive than he thought, with the rest of the ear flushing bright red right in front of his eyes.

When Seongwu absentmindedly uses his fingernail to lightly scratch at it, a small sound—(holy shit, was that a moan?) escapes Minhyun’s lips.

Make that very, very interesting. 

Despite the potential consequences and the glaring fact they’re in a recording room with the rest of the team including Jinyoung squashed up next to Minhyun’s right side, Seongwu has a desperate need to hear that sound again—wants to be the person that elicits it. 

Because he can't be the only one affected by this game that they are playing, right?

Minhyun already showed signs of it earlier, and now Seongwu is so close to encouraging it again. 

So, he grasps the smooth skin between his thumb and index and rolls the flesh between his fingers. 

And there it is, a definite moan. 

It’s muted so as not to gain the attention of the others, but still loud enough for the noise to shoot directly to Seongwu’s groin, his dick stirring in his pants. Damn. He’s supposed to make Minhyun chicken out, _not_ cause further issues for himself.

It's okay, he can handle it, because he's got a mission to complete: Operation-Take-Hwang-Minhyun-Down.

Squeezing his own thighs together in an effort to hide the unwanted reaction that he’s been afflicted with, Seongwu moves to lean into a more relieving angle, at least thanking his own self for the foresight to wear sweatpants that are baggy enough to hide evidence today. 

When Seongwu dares to tug one more time, Minhyun coughs to mask the sound that is forced from him. He lifts one hand up as if to bat Seongwu’s contact away but stops just short, probably remembering their game. 

Oh, how the tables have turned. 

A wince mars Minhyun face as he painfully, but resignedly allows Seongwu to continue his delicate mapping.

For as much poised control Minhyun seems to have had over the situation, the carefully sculpted facade he presented earlier, now begin to show tiny, little cracks where it seemingly dawns on Minhyun himself, that he too can lose which makes Seongwu infinitely happy about the reversal.

Continuing to mess around casually with Minhyun’s ear, however not getting a permanent response, Seongwu is fully aware of that this is his best chance to take advantage of Minhyun’s current vulnerability so without further ado he decides to take it one level further. 

To test out a theory. 

Because the whole point is to win.

Seongwu acts as if to whisper something else, but instead, he moves to nose at the area between Minhyun’s ear and hairline instead. Pursing his lips in a small pout, Seongwu gently blows against the ear and he relishes in the second full-bodied shiver that rattles through Minhyun.

When he sees Minhyun grimace, Seongwu allows himself to laugh because he’s most definitely managed to find a true weakness of Minhyun.

But—

Hollowly, it doesn’t feel as close to victory as he thought it would, because his own chest still feels so tight, unable to help but replay Minhyun’s little moan again, and again. And because he’s still so fucking tense, when none of Minhyun's reaction should have any bearing over him.

It's fine, it's fine, it's fine though—since it's not something that Seongwu needs to divulge, lest Minhyun uses it against him. And with that, he forces himself to put on a confident air again as no one needs to know any better. 

He’s done acting in the past, he can do this. 

“Wait a second. You didn’t mind plastering yourself against me in bed, but you can’t handle someone touching your ear?” Seongwu asks, grateful to hear his voice sounding even, despite the constant quickening of his pulse.

“Shut up, I can’t help it,” Minhyun hisses back. He clears his throat when Jinyoung looks at them curiously. They both aim a smile at him which seemingly appeases the younger male who turns back around to continue engaging the rest of the boys’ attentions. “I’m ticklish there.”

“Right, if that's what you want to blame it on,” Seongwu answers sarcastically.

Not wanting to prolong the inevitable, and wanting a concrete leg to stand on finally, Seongwu moves in for what he hopes to be the killing move. A move that he hopes will work since Minhyun would never expect him to do it in a million years, making it the perfect weapon— 

Seongwu grazes his lips along the curve of Minhyun’s ear, ending with taking the lobe very carefully between his teeth in the tiniest, little nip. 

It’s a fast action, Seongwu releasing it as quickly as he bit down and true enough, Minhyun startles expectedly, pulling his head away from the stimulus, but he also stands up so suddenly it surprises everyone, including Seongwu. 

“I’m going to the bathroom,” Minhyun announces stiffly to the room. 

The producer swivels around on his chair to question, “But Minhyun-sshi, you’re up next?”

Minhyun bows in apology multiple times and hastily replies, “I don’t feel so well. I’ll be back soon,” before rushing out the door.  

Seongwu is unsure why despite being having technically notched a win under his belt, he still doesn’t feel completely satisfied. Perhaps it’s the glimpse of rosiness smeared on Minhyun’s normally pale cheeks, and the dazed expression he caught as Minhyun slips out of the room.

“Don’t worry, I’ll go make sure he’s alright. Jihoon, you record first.”  

 

 

 

✗

 

 

 

Partway when striding to catch up to Minhyun, Seongwu brings himself to stop in the middle of the hallway.

He knows he should just leave it—should just bask in the win, rub it in Minhyun’s face later and simply move on to the next battle.

But the excessive jittering in his stomach and the uncertainty in his mind over Minhyun’s over-reaction involuntarily spurs his feet on, to continue towards his destination where he flings open the entrance to the bathroom.

Seongwu can’t give a reason for why his hand is trembling when he removes it from the handle so he just tucks it into his jacket pocket. The first thing he sees is Minhyun hunched over the sink, white knuckled in front of porcelain and Seongwu swallows, his adam’s apple bobbing.

He didn’t think Minhyun was normally a sore loser, so it’s possibly about something else. 

Obviously, Minhyun has caught wind of Seongwu’s clear attraction to him from the other night. Really, it wasn’t very subtle after all, was it? Seongwu cringes when he thinks about his own completely pronounced reaction, both then, and just now. 

Seongwu knows firsthand that their relationship with each other has now evolved into something dissimilar from prior to beginning this game—

However, if Minhyun begins treating him differently because Seongwu’s unexpected attraction to him wasn’t on the cards, then that’s another story that Seongwu doesn’t think he can handle. Thus, he feels the need to convince _both_ of them that it’s not a big deal. 

“Hey, you okay?” Seongwu asks tentatively. When Minhyun doesn’t respond, the echoing silence surrounding them causes Seongwu to feel a prickle of panic. He hurriedly reminds Minhyun, “Look, it was just for the game and I’m sorry if I crossed the line. I didn’t think anything was off-limits.”

Minhyun remains frozen, unchanging in position. But soon he grits out, “I’m fine, you can take the win and leave. I—I just need a minute by myself.”

Seongwu should have just taken this as indication to back off, to leave Minhyun alone, but he does the opposite instead. Minhyun is never this standoffish, always open in any conversation and the atmosphere of this whole situation is just becoming more heightened.

“Minhyun. Look at me.”

The fingers on the sink just tighten and he can see Minhyun taking in a slow, deep breath. “Just go back to the others, Seongwu,” he replies firmly, voice huskier and tighter than normal. The offending ear before Seongwu is still glaringly flushed under the harsh white light.

“But I don’t want to leave you if you’re upset,” Seongwu says, determined now. “Is it also because of the other night? Because of the way I reacted to you?” He’s close enough that he make out the dark eyelashes feathering against Minhyun’s skin. 

Minhyun doesn’t answer and Seongwu’s stomach plummets. 

Maybe he was wrong to assume that Minhyun felt similarly. What was he even thinking? Sure, Minhyun has said he’s liked and appreciated Seongwu’s visuals before, but it’s not like any of the extra skinship means anything to him probably, not like it does to Seongwu anyway—

“We can call it cabin fever or something,” Seongwu quickly gives an excuse, as he waves his hand indiscriminately. “It’s really not a big deal.” 

A derisive laugh is pulled forth from Minhyun and he still refuses to turn towards Seongwu.

"Not a big deal? This was not meant to happen," Minhyun scoffs quietly. An even quieter, "You were not meant to happen."

_ What-? _

"Min, come on. Talk to me."

It’s sweltering in the bathroom and Seongwu notices a bead of sweat rolling down the side of Minhyun’s neck—the same one that he had his hands all over just minutes before. He is then confronted with the urge to run again when Minhyun finally turns around to allow their gazes to meet.

Because oh, _hell._

He immediately gets the answer to his earlier question. 

Seongwu is faced with a Minhyun who looks surprisingly…seemingly just as turned on as Seongwu has felt in the past few weeks—pupils dilated and blown wide and filled with the exact, same thing he would see reflected back at him if he looked in the mirror himself.

Desire.

How did he miss it?

Had Seongwu been so intent on his own self the other night to not have even realized?

Seongwu’s heart rate continues to escalate when Minhyun walks the two paces towards him in order to close the gap. He almost wants to take a big step back now, almost regretting essentially letting the lion out of its cage. 

However the way that Minhyun always makes him feel— _wanted,_ it’s like a hit of the best kind of wonder drug that Seongwu can’t get enough of. 

“Are you sure you want to hear the reason for why I didn’t want you to stay? You know, actually I should have just said it because it’ll make you want to leave,” Minhyun says quietly as he grabs Seongwu’s palm in his, bringing a steadiness as usual, but it also makes Seongwu conflicted.

Seongwu could have run, _should_ have run. 

Instead, he just nods his head, wanting to know. 

Minhyun laughs a little, breathlessly, under his breath, as if he can’t believe the situation either. “I think it’ll be easier if I show you.” 

Seongwu doesn’t run again, not even when Minhyun’s hand, so warm and soft guides his own, so to rest on Minhyun’s jeans, right at his crotch.

Those long legs clad in the tightest material, leaving no room to hide anything, the thickness underneath the zipper is completely unmistakable and if possible, it’s as if Minhyun grows even harder the moment there’s outright physical contact.

Seongwu swallows again.

He then clears his throat in an attempt to pass off that the fact that he’s got his hand on Minhyun’s hard-on right now, is a casual everyday occurrence. “Uh.” Seongwu is always one to be quick with his words, but every time he’s faced with Minhyun, somehow he loses his vocabulary.

Really, what is he even supposed to do? 

This is not in any manual—game, _or_ life. 

Having struggled with accepting the fact that he’s attracted to his bandmate is one thing, but now being faced with the fact that the latter is very definitely experiencing the exact same dilemma? 

How are they supposed to proceed here without messing their friendship up? 

Minhyun sighs, letting Seongwu’s hand drop off. “Look, if it helps, I wasn’t mad or upset at you for winning again, because that’s the point of the game. And the whole reason I persuaded you into playing it, was simply for you to get better at initiating skinship, anyway, right?”

“Right,” Seongwu repeats softly, brain frantically trying to calculate any other potential reasons. “I mean, what else can it be?” 

“Yeah, what else.” There’s a small, scoffing kind of laugh from Minhyun after he answers as if he’s trying to convince his own self over it but Seongwu isn’t left much time to analyze it when Minhyun continues, “I was just embarrassed over my reaction to the whole thing because—” 

“It’s okay,” Seongwu replies swiftly. He grabs Minhyun’s hand again as if to soothe. 

Minhyun says wryly, “Guess you didn’t quite picture this situation when we started the game.”

“Yeah.” Seongwu’s lip curls. “You can say that again.”

“So, I guess you can also say that it’s… definitely cabin fever causing all of this then,” Minhyun answers, somewhat hesitantly and then, “And so, I don't want you to feel like I've backed you into a corner, and you should really leave me so I can deal with this, _alone,_ alright?”

The immediate thought of Minhyun touching himself stamps itself directly on Seongwu last working brain cell and the rush of lust intensifies. The coil tightens further when he is plagued with the sudden question whether Minhyun turns pink anywhere else apart from his ears.  

The initial seeds of desire from previously has now increased tenfold knowing exactly what kind of effect he has on Minhyun, clearly evident by the physical manifestation that was literally just in his hand. 

Seongwu never used to feel like this. 

Sure, he’s always complimented Minhyun’s visuals as well—the only person that could rival his own self in looks if he wasn’t afraid to be self confident, but not _this_. Thinking about Minhyun recently in such a wholly sexual manner is uncharted territory.

It’s Minhyun. They’re _friends_ , and friends shouldn’t want to touch each other's dicks. 

And so, Seongwu has absolutely no idea why instead of leaving the bathroom and leaving Minhyun, he remains glued to the spot, hearing himself voice out loud, “But I don’t want to lose.”

“What are you talking about?” Minhyun mutters, dark eyes flashing. "You've already won, okay?”

Seongwu knows that his next move will determine the outcome of their future relationship. Change that he has no control over is a concept that has always been a fear for him and so coming face to face with the direct trigger, creates a whirlpool of emotions inside him.

But for some reason, he’s also never been so sure in his life, and holding that metaphorical gun in his hand makes all the difference.

And with that decision, Seongwu reaches out again to move his hand under the hem of Minhyun’s shirt. It’s here where he discovers the simultaneous textures—the hard contours of Minhyun’s abs encased underneath the velvety smoothness of baby-soft skin.

Damn, he knew that Minhyun had been working out, but not to this extent. 

Seongwu has always been an extremely curious person, and he figures, what better time than to exercise this curiosity than right in this minute.

Call it an experiment.

At least if they are both on the same page, it doesn’t need to have negative ramifications. Just some fun in which they can both gain something out of it—a release before they go insane, even if this wasn’t the initial purpose of the game.

Or was it?  

Seongwu doesn’t get the opportunity to contemplate any further when an utterly lovely groan breaks through his fog of thoughts. He realizes he still has his hand on Minhyun, a position he never thought he’d be in, ever.

Dragging a knuckle back down along the chiselled ridges until it hits waistband, Seongwu’s fingertips then dance along the thick line of fabric in exploration. He smiles thinly, nervously but at the same time, he can’t help but be intrigued. 

“I don’t want to leave because it’s a new round. I can, you know, _help_.”

The glazed expression punctuated on Minhyun’s face falters momentarily before it transforms into one of marked confusion. “You—help? Me?” Minhyun chokes out and it ends in a cute startled noise when Seongwu inches his fingers down.

Walking his fingers along the edge, Seongwu whispers, “Or are _you_ chicken?” throwing Minhyun’s prior sentiment back in his face. His brain once again relays the message of it not being too late to run, however Seongwu just tells himself, _it’s just a game—it’s just a game—it’s just a—_ Whoa _._

Seongwu is promptly filled with more than a handful of Minhyun when the other male lifts his hips slightly in a silent question for more friction, same keening question in his eyes and Seongwu is left to practically vibrate with want at the sight. 

“Please—don’t joke around with me, Seongwu,” Minhyun grinds out. “I know I started the game but like I said, I never quite expected this at all—” Minhyun’s sentence breaks off when Seongwu daringly cups his bulge, giving it a light squeeze. Minhyun gasps before regaining his composure when Seongwu eases off. “If we go any further, you know there’s no turning back.” 

This should have been the final indication for Seongwu to leave. To keep everything neatly in their own respective boxes without jumbling it all up.

In that case, Seongwu doesn’t know what possesses himself to walk Minhyun over and press him up against the bathroom door so that both their bodies hold it shut in case anyone decides to come in, especially if one of the other boys looks for them.

Nudging his thigh between Minhyun’s legs, Seongwu feels the heavy weight of attraction. 

Minhyun’s attraction to _him_. It’s unfathomable. 

The only noises that Seongwu can hear now are the sounds of their intermingling breaths, heavy and short. It’s almost a repeat performance from the other week but this time he doesn’t flinch when Minhyun brings his hands up to hold his face.

“Seongwu,” Minhyun whispers urgently. “I need you to say it.” 

There’s a small moment after that, as if to allow room for a change of mind but Seongwu doesn’t back away. Doesn’t want to because he tells himself that no matter what happens, he can still play a good game, especially since this is purely all it is, isn’t it?

He ignores the small note of warning that this however isn’t quite how it’s supposed to be played—that it’s more likely meant to be a playful back and forth that still allows you to be in a safe bubble because you know your limits, rather than actually falling right over the damn cliff.

But somehow Seongwu is thrown into that complete free fall when he hears himself give his consent out loud, “As long as you are, I’m dead sure,” and that sensation spirals even further when their lips mutually crash to meet each other’s.

Every single rational thought flies out of his brain when Minhyun’s tongue traces the seam of his mouth and Seongwu willingly reciprocates to grant him permission in deepening their kiss, throwing all caution to the wind.

He doesn’t even care anymore that he’s actually kissing Minhyun, who tastes sweet—so sweet and so good—so unlike anyone that Seongwu has kissed in the past. And none of his previous relationships can even compare to the intensity of emotion Minhyun awakens inside of him.

Seongwu breaks the kiss with shaky panting because his heart is hammering within his chest. He attempts to regain some semblance of control but it’s near impossible when Minhyun is pretty as a picture, looking back at him through hooded eyes.

Minhyun’s lips are red, swollen and shiny, and another surge of uncontrollable need shoots through Seongwu rendering him almost powerless.

The instant Seongwu thinks that he needs to gain the upper hand, the answer comes to him. He brings his hand up to toy with Minhyun’s ear and is immediately rewarded with that delicious sounding moan, this time uninhibited, filtering through both their senses.

Before Seongwu even needs to plan for it, he finds himself already catching the lobe within his teeth once again, soothing it straight away with a soothing kiss. Reaching down, Seongwu cups Minhyun’s erection through the thick cloth again, to press down firmly with his palm.

“God, if you don’t hurry up, I’m going to die.” Minhyun squirms within his grasp and Seongwu is quickly reminded of the reason for why they’re in this situation in the first place when Minhyun rolls his hips again. A lightning bolt of electricity jolts right through to his own dick. 

“Right. Guess we gotta keep you alive then,” Seongwu breathes over Minhyun’s ear before he slowly sinks down to his knees, like a magic spell that has been cast over him. He unbuttons Minhyun’s jeans, to carefully ease first the zipper, then the fabric down. 

The blood from his head rushes south immediately when he sees the full picture of what is presented before him.

Chewing his bottom lip, Seongwu stares at Minhyun’s cock straining through his fitted boxer briefs. Seongwu has never done this before, never given a blow job but he isn’t going to lie and say that his mouth isn’t watering at the thought of helping Minhyun get off, _and_ winning more points.

Because this is a game.

Because bros can help bros.

(There’s a sarcastic voice in the back of his mind going, yeah-fucking-right, you absolute idiot, because 1) this is not what bros do, and 2) even if it was, who the fuck goes for the blow job first? But Seongwu resolutely ignores himself. Go hard or go home, right?)

“Like what you see?” Minhyun’s voice break through Seongwu’s reverie.

Seongwu tilts his head up to make eye-contact with Minhyun again, and he’s relieved at the way that he’s not the only one nervous, the tell-tale sign being the way that Minhyun can’t stop from blinking, despite the earlier wisecrack.

“Stop fishing for compliments,” Seongwu retorts lightly before he shakes his head. “God, this is crazy. Am I going to go to hell for this?”

Minhyun reaches down, runs his hand through Seongwu’s hair, grabs the ends gently. He laughs. “You drive _me_ crazy, so yeah I guess if you do, we’re going together.” He goes quiet for a moment before, “You don’t have to do this. We can call it off… the game.” 

“No.” Seongwu jerks his head slightly. “I want—to do this.”

Without preamble, Seongwu then allows Minhyun to direct him, in order to nuzzle at the bulge before him. Mouthing at Minhyun’s cock head through the thin material, he feels the burgeoning dampness both from his spit and the precum.

When Minhyun’s needy whimpers interrupts his focus, Seongwu changes tactics to pull the black briefs aside to allow Minhyun’s cock to spring free. 

_Of course_ , he’s gorgeous all over and it clearly answers the question that Seongwu had previously about whether Minhyun goes pink anywhere else.

“I—Uh, I don’t have a condom on me,” Seongwu says breathily, licking his hand prior to wrapping it around Minhyun’s shaft. He pumps it leisurely just the way he would do to his own self, although the feel of Minhyun is somewhat different. 

But it’s a good kind of different, so it doesn’t make him want to stop.

“Neither, but I’m clean,” Minhyun exhales and Seongwu trusts him so he wets his lips and leans forward to wrap them around the crown, suckling once carefully. Relaxing his jaw, he starts to take more of Minhyun into his mouth, flattening his tongue along the ridged underside.

Using both his hand, and mouth, Seongwu alternates between various pressures and speeds in an effort to figure out what Minhyun likes, and he makes his best attempt to transpose what he knows he enjoys himself, figuring that Minhyun can’t be too much far from him.

Admittedly, it’s tiring work, (his jaw fucking _aches_ ) but he assumes he’s delivering perfectly, or at the very least, fairly competently, considering the gratified noises spilling from Minhyun’s mouth. 

And that’s satisfaction enough.

The hands in Seongwu’s hair tighten when Seongwu swirls his tongue around the cock head, pressing it against the slit at the tip. Ah, okay Minhyun likes that. He then licks a further stripe from the base to the tip and hollows his mouth once more again.

Minhyun accidentally thrusts a little more vigorously causing Seongwu to almost gag. He pulls free to wipe at his eyes which are watering, he hoarsely asks, “You already want me to deep throat you?” Pausing, he listens to Minhyun’s apology before querying teasingly, “Can _you_ do it?”

Minhyun chokes out a laugh, back bending like a bow from Seongwu’s continued ministrations. “Wouldn’t you like to find out?” He smoothes a hand, a little more tenderly than Seongwu would like, over Seongwu’s forehead to clear his vision from the strands of hair obscuring it.

“Maybe,” Seongwu can only mumble in reply, thoughts all staticky and foggy in his head. He shouldn’t even be contemplating a second round with Minhyun because really, it’s already insane how pliant Minhyun is under Seongwu’s willing mouth right now.

But because he doesn’t want to think about the consequences, he goes back to pushing Minhyun to the brink, this time wrapping his hand around the part that doesn’t fit in his mouth, twisting several times and then he just, _hums_. 

And Minhyun comes entirely undone.

Milking him dry through his orgasm, Seongwu swallows down. It’s an unfamiliar taste but admittedly not unpleasant. He is very fast aware of the ache in his jaw again but it’s a small price to pay when he catches Minhyun staring back at him with a satiated expression.

Seongwu nearly chokes again, but this time from embarrassment rather than from his physical gag reflex. “Don’t look at me like that. I can't believe what we just did.” Thumbing the remnants off the corner of his lips, he disentangles himself from Minhyun who tucks himself back into his pants. 

“Neither can I. But uh, do you want me to…” Minhyun offers, the rest of the invitation hanging in the air. Seongwu is almost enticed, his own poor, ignored dick jerking again to attention at the thought, but he is still so unsure and it’ll probably just be tempting fate, so Seongwu shakes his head.  

“Call this one a draw?” Seongwu asks because he's not sure what else to say.

It's quiet, too quiet for a second before Minhyun's lip quirks up. “Yeah, of course.”

Again, there’s no clear instruction manual to this game that they're playing and the belated uncertainty makes Seongwu's stomach knot up. But when Minhyun grabs Seongwu's hand in his again, fingers interweaving, unsurprisingly it calms his double-timing heart rate. 

“What should we do now?” Seongwu asks cautiously.

This is going to change _everything_.

Minhyun's thumb absentmindedly strokes his first webspace. “First, we better head back since we’ve been gone for long enough," Minhyun answers placidly, expression now completely serene as if an event of such magnitude hadn’t just occurred between them. “And then you stop worrying.”

The awkwardness melts away easily to allow mild indignation to replace it.

"Please, I'm not worried!” Seongwu argues back. “There’s nothing to worry about because I was just, _you know_ , helping a friend out.” His tone is forceful as if trying to assure his own self _and_ Minhyun. “Just helping you blow off some steam which isn’t a big deal to me at all, whatsoever.” 

Minhyun nods slowly, an unspoken agreement forming between them as he obviously grasps the unsaid implication behind Seongwu’s words. And Seongwu knows it’s easier for both of them this way—easier than having to try explain the entire situation out loud.   

“Helping a friend out… well, you’re a right saint then, aren’t you, Ong Seongwu,” Minhyun muses sardonically before his smile turns positively wicked. “Though I think you’ll have to keep practicing before trying it on anyone else since I’d say that was only a six out of ten.”  

“Whatever, your loud moaning said otherwise, you asshole!” Seongwu exclaims in vehement protest as they leave the bathroom together, back to bickering again like normal despite the conversation topic at hand. “Just a six out of ten? You honestly _wish_ you could do better than me.”  

“I’m sure I can.” 

“Whatever, Mr ‘I have never had romantic relationship’ before.” 

Minhyun merely looks over at Seongwu and announces simply, “Just because I’ve never been in a relationship, doesn’t mean I don’t have any experience. But hey, that’s for the next round if you want to find out more,” leaving Seongwu speechless as they re-enter the studio.

“Are you feeling okay?” Jisung asks Minhyun concernedly when they move to sit back down.

Seongwu’s cheeks burn when he sees Minhyun just smiling like the cat ate the canary. Minhyun replies, “Oh yes, I must have just ate something weird before but I feel _much_ better now, after Seongwu came to check on me and got me the medicine I needed.”

Seongwu chokes.

 

 

 

Much later that night when Seongwu is alone and has his hand on himself, he acknowledges Minhyun was in fact right to say he was worried—but it's also here Seongwu realizes it's not worry due to regret. 

Rather, it's because he's thinking about Minhyun's smooth skin, that full bow lips, and that tiny waist that Seongwu could probably span with his hands, Minhyun, Minhyun, Minhyun with every messy jerk of his fist, and abruptly wondering if the parameters of the game allowed them to fuck each other senseless and _that_ , is what continues to scare him the most.

 

 

 

✗

 

 

 

Despite Seongwu's own eye-opening revelation and previous anxiousness, things do get smoother between them after that particular night. It's almost as if most of the initial tension was released, both physically and metaphorically.

Having had his hands (and mouth) on Minhyun’s most private area, it now makes simple skinship with Minhyun feel like child’s play.

Although it doesn’t miraculously make Seongwu fully comfortable with initiating, it does become a daily routine to expect Minhyun and him to exchange some form of physical touch in any way, which is far more than they’ve done in the past.

Slowly, even Seongwu finds his own hand resting on Minhyun’s waist or easily scooping Minhyun into a hug after they win their fifth music show trophy, all even before his mind can adjust for it.

It even becomes habitual for them to weave their fingers together—for Seongwu to find comfort in Minhyun’s hand hold, even if it gets double takes from the other members. But they soon turn a blind eye because it’s _Minhyun_ , figuring that he’s just being his normal clingy self. 

Seongwu tries not to dwell on the last time that he helped Minhyun 'blow off some steam’. They haven’t talked about it since the fact, and Seongwu is not about to bring it up unless absolutely required. He chalks it down as another heated moment in the name of winning the game.

Seongwu tells himself that his competitive neurons are clearly just ahead of him.

Over the next week, they trade several fairly innocent rounds, both taking turns to pull away because they are either in front of the group or the fans, so as not to attract any excess attention, not wanting anyone else to find out the specific details about this _thing_ between them.

Since that other day, they haven’t gone any further than simple make outs, fake outs in private, and stray hands over innocuous regions in public, using surprise as the weapon rather than anything else that would push the boundaries into a more sensual territory.

Seongwu has tried plucking a strand of hair off Minhyun’s lips during a v-live, or puckering his lips back in response to Minhyun trying his luck during a stage performance, however they were all unfortunately to no avail as Minhyun had just seemed indifferent to it. 

And truthfully, their ongoing game hasn’t been totally at the forefront of their minds anyway, what with Wanna One being in the middle of a comeback and Seongwu having enough to focus on with 24/7 events. Their multiple schedules also means that they’re exhausted by the time they reach the dorm and having roommates is a big roadblock, so they haven’t had another close call.

Really, it’s hard to find time to breath, let alone do anything else.

So Seongwu’s not sure how he finds himself once again in another doomed situation, this time with Minhyun’s hand nicely situated, curled around his cock, and their clothes all strewn messily on the ground.

Except actually, it’s a big fat lie because Seongwu knows exactly how it all went down.

It had all started with the fact that they had finally been given a free night all to themselves, a break for those who didn’t have anything lined up. 

The pair had been left to their own devices because their respective roommates Sungwoon and Daniel were out on an overnight filming together and the rest were having a gaming party in the other dorm, thus Seongwu had suggested supper which Minhyun had readily agreed to.

He knew that they enjoyed the same sorts of food, having similar tastes, but even though this would be the first time they’d eat together alone, surprisingly, Seongwu hadn’t even considered any further moves in regards to the game. 

But apparently, Minhyun had other ideas.

Whilst relaxing, full from eating the takeaway jokbal and reading their respective novels next to each other, Minhyun had begun drawing random symbols over Seongwu’s bare thigh, sensitive skin exposed by his ripped jeans, distracting him from the page. 

Another challenge provoked when Seongwu had placed his book down and queried his intent.

Seongwu had been frozen for all of a second before retorting to _try him_ , and that was that.

So with Minhyun currently sliding his hand up and down along Seongwu’s length, for a long moment, Seongwu just lets himself relish in how incredible it feels, how _Minhyun_ makes him feel. 

It’s strange, that just several weeks ago, Seongwu had been in such a different headspace, and now, _this,_ as if it could be a daily occurrence. 

They’d begun making out again—tongues waging their usual war, in a battle for dominance. Being so entangled with Minhyun always somehow destroys whatever reasons clear-minded Seongwu normally comes up with to try talk himself out of these sorts of resulting scenarios. 

And obviously, Seongwu was not able to resist as per usual. He’d been certain that this time Minhyun would have pulled away first, not wanting to go any further again, but it seemed the other is completely insistent on giving him a good run for his money today. 

And thinking about it, Seongwu could just allow Minhyun to do this all night. 

But make no mistake, it’s _only_ because he doesn’t want to lose this round, of course. A true sacrifice on his part. 

Minhyun leans his forehead down to hover close to Seongwu’s face all without letting up the torturous pleasure he’s inflicting on Seongwu. It’s clear that Minhyun knows just how agitated he's making Seongwu, judging from the way he smiles cat-like at how Seongwu’s hips keep snapping up, wanting more, but Minhyun keeps at the languid pace. 

Seongwu hisses through his teeth, to say almost mockingly, "Scared to go any further than this?" His question however ends in a loud groaning when Minhyun bites at his clavicle, all whilst still circling his fist leisurely.

Minhyun lifts his head to breathe out, ”You wish. I’m just contemplating my options." 

“You’re so full of shit,” Seongwu replies, each word hitching with every stroke of Minhyun’s hand. Minhyun experimentally thumbs at the slit at the tip just like how Seongwu had done to him previously, and Seongwu lets out a whimpering noise when a fresh wave of heat crashes over him.

“But you like it,” Minhyun announces, smirk curling onto his lips. He dips down to scrape his teeth along the same clavicle he just bit before, before littering soft kisses over them, all over his neck. When Seongwu shivers, he whispers, “Mhm so sensitive. Sure _you_ wanna keep going?” 

The rosy glow is back on Minhyun’s face again, this time in full contentment at the way he’s got Seongwu in his grasp. Literally. Seongwu sniffs loudly. “Don’t think you’re all that. I already told you once that I can handle anything, so you better try your best or leave.”

“Is that a challenge I hear?” Minhyun says amusedly, palming Seongwu’s cock in a quickening pace. “You know, I do so love a good challenge." 

"Fuck you," Seongwu croaks out in spite, feeling like he’s almost going to pass out with the way that all his nerve-endings are firing off and he can’t wait to repay the same feeling back to Minhyun. He better watch out. 

Minhyun, the nerve of him, just _laughs_. ”Mhm, that's what I intend to do with you." He adds as a serious afterthought, “If you’ll let me of course?” 

Seongwu can’t help but rut with newfound urgency against Minhyun’s hand at the amount of need that smashes into him like a truck. He tries his best to match the speed of contact but is left hanging when Minhyun suddenly releases, to bring his hand to cup it around Seongwu’s jaw.

Seongwu’s breath is coming out in big huffing gasps, annoyed at the fact that he was just, almost _there_. Damn. He grunts out, “What are you—”

“Seongwu,” Minhyun interrupts quietly, “I asked if you’ll let me fuck you,” He doesn’t allow Seongwu to drop eye-contact with him with his chin still held softly in his grip. Minhyun’s stare is intimidating, in the best sense and Seongwu’s heart skids. “Answer it please or else I’ll take this as a forfeit.” He licks his lips, to mumble on, “I mean, s’okay if you want to stop.” 

Seongwu sends him a withering glare. “Has anyone told you that you talk too much?” He soon throws an arm across his face because the amount of vulnerability he feels being so exposed is overwhelming—because he doesn’t want Minhyun to see the amount of need he feels internally, reflected in his eyes when he continues, “Thanks for asking so nicely but. Just. Fuck me already.” 

Seongwu can pretty much feel the intensity of Minhyun’s forceful gaze for what seems like an eternity before his arm gets plucked off to be directly faced with it. Minhyun then bends to match his lips against Seongwu’s in a searing kiss, almost catching the skin.  

“Okay,” Minhyun mumbles softly against Seongwu’s lips. “Okay.”

Minhyun glides his tongue to soothe the tender area, before licking into Seongwu’s mouth again, and Seongwu just sighs into it, revelling in the sensation, barely even remembering his carefully formulated master-plan of taking Minhyun down.

It’s absolutely feverish how Seongwu feels in this moment. 

If someone had told him a few months ago, he’d be kissing anyone in his first two years as an idol, let alone kissing Hwang Minhyun, he would have scoffed in their face. 

But well, here they are, grinding over each other and it feels just so damn good that Seongwu doesn’t even care about the parameters of this game anymore—just allowing his entire world to narrow down on the sensation of Minhyun’s mouth on his and their hips gyrating together.

The friction of their skin on skin makes Seongwu’s toes curl involuntarily.

Minhyun soon coaxes Seongwu to roll over, for the latter to rest on forearms and shins, bottom in the air. Another shiver races through him when Minhyun’s palm runs along his skin, tracing his spine, to map an ignited path from his shoulder blade down the small of his back. 

It’s testament how comfortable Seongwu feels in spite of the entire situation when he just silently allows Minhyun to do what he wishes without complaint or question. Burying his face into the pillow, he’s grateful that Minhyun can’t see the myriad of emotions flashing across it. 

Especially since the amount of pleasure coursing through his system right now is unbelievable.

Seongwu’s cock is achingly hard in between his thighs and he embarrassingly wants Minhyun’s hand back on it again, but the bed dips as Minhyun clambers off to search through the drawers. Seongwu hears what he figures is the lube bottle uncapping, and then feels body heat surrounding him again when Minhyun settles behind him, to re-adjust his hips. 

“Stay still. I’m just gonna—”

Seongwu barely has time to breath before he feels Minhyun spreading his cheeks apart to slowly graze at his rim, probing at the tight furl of muscle. It’s cold from the coating of lube but Seongwu sweats nonetheless, feeling the quivering knot of anticipation. 

“You could have warmed it, you asshole,” Seongwu exhales out, trying to ignore the vice grip around his ribs.

Minhyun’s tone is smug when he responds, “I know I could have.” However, he must have leant down in silent apology because Seongwu feels hot air blown against his rim which produces another moan from him, arching his back in pleasure.

There’s steady pressure from the way Minhyun is exceedingly cautious as he works his finger further inside Seongwu until its sunk to the second knuckle. Aware of how tight it already feels, Seongwu wonders how he’s going to be able to take any more.   

As if sensing Seongwu’s uncertainty, Minhyun withdraws his middle digit, but only to ease it back in again—drawing it in and out, in and out, all while crooning praising words into the air about how good Seongwu is being, until he’s satisfied enough to add his index, and then a third.

The stretch of his rim feels glorious around Minhyun’s multiple fingers, and it’s reflex for Seongwu to clamp his walls down against them, eager for Minhyun to give him _more_. 

Seongwu lets out a tiny mewl when Minhyun simultaneously presses hot, open-mouthed kisses to the base of his spine, whilst crooking his fingers for his middle one to push rhythmically against just the right spot inside of him. A long groan is drawn out of him, back muscles tensing.  

“Does it hurt?” Minhyun asks, as if concerned, but the fucker just continues to press near his prostate again and again and _again_ until Seongwu is seeing all sorts of white spots in his vision. And then Minhyun nags, “C’mon, answer me Seongwu, I want this to feel good for you.” 

An honest to god whine escapes Seongwu’s mouth, completely wanton and shameless. It’s hard to use words when they’ve been wrung out of him—when his composure has been reduced to a shell of what it normally is, and it’s disconcerting how much he loves every minute of this.   

“S’ okay,” Seongwu manages to mumble weakly. “Good kind of burn. Don’t—don’t stop.” His words come out in a staccato burst when Minhyun agreeably doesn’t let up his insistence of pressure deep within Seongwu. Unfortunately it does all cease when he can’t help but be a smartass, saying, “But you better think again if you believe I’m going to let you take control of this.”

“Yeah?” Minhyun laughs, removing his fingers. An emptiness persists within Seongwu but his heart jumps when he soon hears the condom wrapper crinkle, and then feels Minhyun positioning himself against his entrance. Seongwu trembles with need, resisting the primal urge to rock back. 

Minhyun continues, saccharine sweet, “Well, you’re right, you have all the power here, Seongwu-yah. I’m just following orders since you’re the one that told me not to stop. So, what _do_ you want?” 

Seongwu turns his face to rest his cheek on the pillow, looking at the plain white wall as he contemplates his answer. He tries to remind himself that no matter how many excuses he wants to give, everything about this is crazy—that giving in to Minhyun would be a mistake. 

But with the imprint of Minhyun’s hand on the curve of his ass, the incessant heat that is so utterly inviting, and how good everything just feels, Seongwu knows his decision has already been made a long time ago. So, Seongwu simply replies, “I want _you_.”

It’s as if a lock clicks open because Minhyun takes it as permission to nudge the head of his cock into Seongwu, sliding agonisingly slow, inch by inch but it’s so damn tight. All Seongwu can do is breathe through his nostrils, trying to get used to the sensation. 

“Relax,” Minhyun whispers back, tightening his grip over the flesh of his hips. It’s ironic however, because despite the sentiment coming out from Minhyun’s mouth, the other sounds just as wound up as Seongwu feels. 

And it’s easier said than done when he feels so fucking full, much fuller than he’s ever felt in his life but somehow, he wills himself. Everything is just pure haziness in his brain with the way that Minhyun is now completely seated to the hilt inside him and Seongwu just needs—

“Minhyun,” Seongwu whispers, mild apprehension coloring the name when he can’t help but think too much about the way Minhyun is wrapped so comfortably, too comfortably around him. He wants to put all of his thoughts and emotions into words, but since because he’s still uncertain to what they exactly are, he can only merely growl, “Minhyun, _move_.”  

When Minhyun pulls out instead of fulfilling his wish, Seongwu barely has time to even complain before Minhyun is already sinking back in once again and oh, _god_ , he almost wants to eat all his words.

“Move like this?” Minhyun asks cheekily as he rolls his hips, _just right_ for his cock to brush once against his prostate. It makes Seongwu shudder, burrowing his face into the pillow again, in an attempt to muffle his cries.

“ _Yes_ ,” he keens before repeating, “Yes, yes, yes,” over and over again when the measured pace of Minhyun’s movements pick up, the crown of his cock sliding in so deep that makes Seongwu feel like he might come apart any minute. He clenches his jaw as he feels every thrust.

Heavy weight settles over him as Minhyun drapes himself on Seongwu’s back, to press him firmly against the mattress whilst trailing gentle lips over his shoulder and neck. Minhyun is everywhere and so entangled with him that it’s almost overwhelming Seongwu.  

Seongwu tries to find his own rhythm, tilting his own hips back to match Minhyun who is now fucking into him earnestly. “Seongwu,” Minhyun gasps out, a hint of desperation to his voice that he hadn’t expected after all that initial show. “I don’t think I can—“ 

“Don’t care,” Seongwu croaks out, anticipating what he’s about to say. “Keep going, _please.”_

He doesn’t even care if he sounds needy because he’s way past caring about the fact.

Minhyun reaches around to fist Seongwu’s leaking cock, now timing his pumping to the same rate that he’s pistoning into Seongwu. The sound of skin slapping against skin is as lewd and dirty as any high school fantasy and wet dream rolled into one but nothing else matters. 

Seongwu’s brow furrows with intense pleasure as he bites down on the pillow in his attempt to mask the noises. Soon, he doesn’t think he has any more control over his other muscles, content now to lie that, lax and pliant, allowing Minhyun to ruin his body any way he wants. 

And ruin him Minhyun does, when he flips Seongwu around to lie flat on his back again, grasping his legs in a way that somehow allows him to angle himself even deeper into Seongwu, if possible. His vision goes blurry but through the fog, he sees Minhyun staring back at him with such a fierce intensity, so much so that it makes his chest tighten with pain. 

“I need y—,” Seongwu’s voice breaks. “I need this so much.” 

He can tell when Minhyun is close to his release when the thrusts become more erratic, movements stuttering with none of his usual grace, though not that Seongwu minds, much, because the hard glide of Minhyun’s dick against his walls still feels incredible. 

Seongwu clenches down, throwing his head back to expose his throat—again exactly like willing prey in Minhyun’s hands.

It’s not long before Minhyun finally cums, control snapping. It plays havoc on Seongwu’s own senses as he smells the scent of debauchery fill the air, hears the loud, wrecked whimpers spilling forth, and feels the shuddering of Minhyun’s thighs against his own. 

The expression on Minhyun’s face when he orgasms is by far the most beautiful thing he’s seen—the blissed out fulfilment as every single defensive measure crashes down, and Seongwu feels infinitely powerful knowing that _he_ was responsible.

Before Seongwu can even fumble to reach at his own dick to gain his own release, Minhyun is already there, knocking his hand away to pull at his length, and all it takes is just simple edging touch against sensitive skin and Seongwu is catapulting right over that damn cliff again. 

The strength of his entire orgasm surprises Seongwu, hips jerking stiltedly as Minhyun holds him through the course of it, through the shockwaves that flood his system, and through the way his composure crumbles wholly to pieces. 

He’s barely even begun to feel alive again when Minhyun lifts himself off Seongwu, to pull out. 

Seongwu hears Minhyun rustling around, disposing the condom in a tissue, into the trashcan. He drifts in and out of a satiated daze, only peeling one eye open when he feels a warm cloth wipe off the mess he knows they made on his stomach. 

Seongwu then props himself up on his elbow to watch. Minhyun’s hair is mussed, falling attractively over his forehead and there’s a redness to his skin, from those very ears, extending to his chest which he has left bare, though he’s pulled on a pair of shorts. 

A small stray thought flickers through his addled brain as he wonders if this will warp things further—complicate the already intricate relationship between them, but when Minhyun smiles before announcing, “We seem to be having too many draws lately,” only then does it relax Seongwu.

“Not my fault that you’re stubborn as fuck,” Seongwu replies lightly. 

“Only just as much as you are,” Minhyun teases as he moves to lie down beside Seongwu, half sprawling on him. Seongwu is startled, not expecting this at all as he’d figured that Minhyun would have just told him to go back to his room.

“You’re so heavy, get off,” Seongwu protests. However, Minhyun makes no movement to switch positions. And it’s when he doesn’t shift his own self, that Seongwu comes to the troubling realization—this game they’re playing must strangely be working because even with Minhyun’s excessive clinginess, he doesn’t feel opposed to it. 

In fact, it seems he might even enjoy how Minhyun has both an arm and a leg draped over him.  

Perhaps just a little too much. 

“Too lazy,” comes the soft answer from Minhyun, words almost getting lost in Seongwu’s skin from the way Minhyun’s lips are pressed against the juncture of his throat and neck. “If you don’t like it—just like you got me my shirt that time, you’re going to have to move me yourself.” 

Seongwu’s hand rises as if to do just that, but at the last minute, it moves out of its own accord to skim carefully over Minhyun’s forehead, sweeping the stray bangs back. There’s an odd feeling in his stomach when he hears himself reply, “Not if I don’t want to lose this time.” 

 

 

 

✗

 

 

 

After that, Seongwu and Minhyun are unable to keep their hands off each other. Behind the excuse of the game, they sneak in countless more kisses in the dark backstage, gasping for breath with Seongwu only peeling himself away when the loud cheers erupt nearby, surprising him. 

Point to Minhyun. 

Seongwu returns the favor the following Tuesday after they have a duo photoshoot, riling Minhyun up so much that the other male is pretty much frantically rutting against his leg behind the clothes rack. Seongwu is ready to drop his designer trousers when Minhyun pushes him away, pretending like nothing happened when he hears their manager yelling their names.

Point to Seongwu. 

That next day, they are both left with bruises on their hips and sore thighs after Seongwu took Minhyun up against the wall when they were supposed to be showering late at night—well, they got there in the end, just _after_ Seongwu finds out what else Minhyun can do with his mouth.  

Another draw. 

Seongwu tells himself he just can’t help it. 

It’s as if it's become an addiction, the way that his fingers itch, the way his eyes can’t seem to stop tracking how utterly sinful Minhyun looks with a blindfold during his solo stage, the way he wants to trace the uncovered abs physically. 

And he thankfully gets to do it, over and over again when they come together in secret, Seongwu very much appreciative of the fact that Daniel has been busy with schedules lately and gone for random blocks of time which allows Minhyun and him to be alone in the dorm. 

Time and time again, they get to fuck out all of the pent up stress that they are harboring from their rigid lifestyle and soon, Seongwu can barely even remember the time when him and Minhyun weren’t so tangled up in this game and in each other. 

Not until it gets brought up directly to his face when him and Daniel head out on a rest night.

“So, Seongwu-hyung,” Daniel begins when they settle down at a table in their favorite ramen restaurant nearby their dorm. It’s understated and underground which is perfect to keep from being conspicuous. “I’m surprised you’re deigning to hang out with me tonight.”

Seongwu is half way in the middle of pouring them both water when the words register in his hunger-addled state. He lifts his eyes to peer at Daniel for a moment before replying, “What’s that supposed to mean? We see each other all the time.”

Daniel gives him the Look. “You’ve got to realize that you’ve been spending pretty much all your free time with Minhyun-hyung recently, right? The last time I asked you to go eat tonkatsu, you already said you had gotten supper with him.” 

“Well. You’ve been busy yourself lately with your variety recordings,” Seongwu defends himself, despite not even knowing why he has to in the first place. “And you did tell me to work out my initial frustrations with him so I’ve been doing…that.”

Technically he has. 

“That was weeks and weeks ago!” Daniel's mouth is downturned and he looks like a sad, samoyed puppy. “I mean I know we’ve been so busy and even though we’re roommates, we never really get a chance to even talk properly anymore. I’ve missed getting food with you.” 

“You mean you only miss my wallet because I treat you,” Seongwu retaliates with his brow arched skeptically. 

Daniel waves his hand around. “Okay, not even gonna lie and deny that, but I’m hurt you think that’s all it is.” He cocks his head to the side. “In fact, I do like you for your sparkling personality too, _despite_  the fact that everyone’s been ribbing you for your stale jokes lately.”  

“Hey!” Seongwu protests, looking up from the menu. “They are just an acquired taste.” 

“You sure can say that. But don’t worry, lucky for you, I still like the bad jokes.” 

A cheeky smile is shot his way causing Seongwu to let out a sigh. “Honestly, you telling me that doesn’t even make me feel better either since you laugh at everything I do anyway—”  Daniel shoots him finger guns and they both burst into laughter. “Ah, I’m sorry I haven't been a good friend.” 

Daniel is right. 

Seongwu knows he’s been too engrossed with trying to figure out his own emotional status regarding the _thing_ with Minhyun that he’s been ignoring everything else. The ironic part is, that the more time he spends with Minhyun, the more confusing it all becomes.   

They get distracted when the waiter comes by to take their order and Seongwu is glad for the reprieve in the conversation, but it swings back fast enough when they are left alone again. Daniel hums contemplatively. 

“Actually I’ve been thinking about it. I mean I can’t believe I didn’t even see it before, but Jihoon was definitely on the right track."

“Right track…about what?” Seongwu is almost afraid to ask. 

“There’s always been something going on and it just seems even more suspicious with you all weirdly touchy-feely with him recently. I mean I know I told you to do skinship more but—” Daniel squints before his eyes widen almost comically. “Oh my God, you’re dating, aren’t you?” 

“What?—Minhyun and I— _dating_?” Seongwu splutters, hand close to knocking his cup of water over when it jerks in shock. “Where did you even get that ridiculous idea?” 

Daniel scratches his chin. “Did I get it wrong? Seriously, not only are you guys together all the time, but even when you’re across the room from each other that there’s so much tension—“ he wiggles his brows. “Make that _sexual_ tension.”  

Seongwu sinks down in his chair, contemplating what to reply. Daniel is way too perceptive for his own good, he didn’t think anyone would pick up on it so quickly, but really, he supposes they haven’t been at all very subtle, have they? 

He quickly casts his eyes left and right to make sure no one is listening. 

“This does not leave this restaurant,” Seongwu commands emphatically. “Or between the both of us.” Daniel mimes a zip over his lips. “Okay, god, fine. If you really _must_ know, Minhyun and I are _not_ dating, but we’ve been kinda doing stuff…together, I guess,” he finishes reluctantly. 

“Holy shit.” Daniel is agog as he leans closer in, questioning further, “Wait, by stuff you definitely mean, like sexually right?”

Seongwu exasperatedly gives him a smack on the arm. “Do I really have to lay it all out for you?” 

“No, because you basically just confirmed it.” Daniel cocks his head. “So, let me get this straight. You’re having sex, and you constantly have meals together _and_ you’re literally glued to each other’s sides whenever we have down time, but you’re _not_ dating?”  

“All of those activities can be mutually exclusive, Daniel,” Seongwu’s voice takes on a semi-lecturing tone. “And if you really want term it something, then I suppose we’re just, you know, friends with benefits. It’s…convenient.”

“Right, convenient… Man, give me one second to take this all in.” 

“Daniel, please. It’s not that big a deal.” 

Daniel raises his eyebrows. “Not a big deal? Wow.” He leans back in his seat before repeating, “Wow. This is actually monumental.”

Seongwu insists, “Look, I never thought it would happen either, it just did. But even though Minhyun is a great person, and great in—“ Seongwu gestures around vaguely, as Daniel’s eyebrows shoot even higher, “—it doesn’t mean that we’re dating or, that I have feelings for him.”

“Really?” There’s absolute disbelief on Daniel’s face now. “You two are group-mates, good friends even before all this and so crossing that line, do you really think that you guys can sustain meaningless sex without emotions getting involved?” 

“Ye—yes?” ( _Wrong_ , _it already has_ , Seongwu’s over-analyzing brain screams at him.) 

“Well, maybe I’m misreading you, but I would like to think that I’ve gotten to know you and Minhyun-hyung really well over the last year and truthfully, I have to say, it seems like you would both be pretty attached kind of people when it comes to feelings.” 

“I can do casual!” Seongwu defends himself again, face coloring. He stares at the peeling poster behind Daniel's head in an attempt to stall. He mumbles, "Anyway, even if Minhyun thinks of me that way, too much would change if we tried to make whatever we're doing official."

Daniel laughs. Loudly. "You're kidding right? You guys already act like you're dating." He proceeds to tick off a number of very relationship-like type activities that the both of them do with each other, and Seongwu cringes with each one. Fine, it's true that they spend a lot of time together, but it's really—just the fact they are both in a band that has provided them the excuse of spending the time together outside of bed.

Seongwu is sure they wouldn't otherwise. Right?

However, there is an annoying voice that vaguely sounds like Minhyun reminding him of how boyfriend they've been acting with each other and Seongwu's brain immediately begins to perform mental hurdles.

“Seriously, what’s wrong with dating anyway?” 

“Nothing! I—just—“ Seongwu flounders for whatever reason. “I’d just end up with a broken heart, and a bunch of his striped collared shirts or something, and I already have plenty of those so you know, from a purely logical standpoint, it makes sense." 

“That,” Daniel frowns, “is the least logical reasoning I’ve ever heard. How do you even know he’ll break your heart?” 

“I mean, have you even seen Minhyun? He’s a living, breathing, and walking heart-breaker.”

“You are ridiculous.” Daniel leans back against his chair. “But, so-o-o, if I’m reading this correctly, what you’re saying is that you might have feelings for him but you don’t even want to think about telling Minhyun hyung in case you get your heart broken?” 

_Maybe._ “No, you’re reading this all wrong.” 

“Don't you think Minhyun hyung deserves to know? What if he's been thinking otherwise?"

"He doesn't," Seongwu tries to argue but Daniel is barely even listening. Seongwu can see the excited look in the other's eyes.

"Hmm honestly, now that I really think about it, I’m pretty sure Minhyun-hyung would probably say yes. You guys match so well. You both feed each other’s egos, he keeps you grounded and you share some of his burdens when it comes to looking after everyone. So, why not?” 

Seongwu mutters defeatedly, “Minhyun and I just don’t like each other like that. _Romantically_.”   

Daniel stares at him for a moment, before snapping his attention to the waiter that has returned with their ramen. 

Before diving to attack the food, chopsticks poised over the bowl of noodles, Daniel catches Seongwu’s gaze, and smiles before announcing, “Well, I just know that both Jihoon and I are going to love saying I told you so when you finally figure it out.”  

Seongwu swallows. 

_Even if he did like Minhyun, he’s pretty damn sure that Minhyun is just all in because of the game so he’s sunk either way._

 

 

 

✗

 

 

 

Following his conversation with Daniel, Seongwu is unable to get it out of his head—the reiterating question regarding the idea whether Seongwu likes Minhyun in _that_ way.  

Really, Seongwu keeps telling himself that the more he thinks about it, the more certain he is that he, one hundred percent completely, and absolutely does not have that sort of _feelings_ for a certain Hwang Minhyun.

He’s already freely admitted to himself before that there’s no doubting there’s definitely attraction and chemistry between the both of them. However, how does one decide exactly when and how those particular things evolve into the next level of actually “ _liking_ ” someone? 

Seongwu knows he possesses a very healthy respect and admiration for Minhyun as a person, thinks he’s absolutely fucking beautiful, loves the way it doesn’t take much for them to laugh with (and at) each other, loves how they have both comfortable and thought-provoking conversations that span a wide ranging topics and how he always, always looks forward to spending time together.

But does that mean he is romantically inclined towards Minhyun? 

_No._

Because the thing between him, and Minhyun: it’s just sex. 

_(Make that mind-blowing, fan-fucking-tastic sex.)_

_(But still sex.) (No extra pesky feelings.)_

They’re just fuck-buddies, friends with benefits, whatever term you want to label it—

And that’s what Seongwu tells himself when he slides three of his fingers deeper inside Minhyun’s ass, crooking them at an angle that makes Minhyun arch his back with a loud gasp. He can’t see Minhyun’s face, but Seongwu knows that the other probably has a desperate haze in his eyes. 

The same one that is most likely reflected in his own, if he were to look into a mirror because there’s a strange, frenzied kind of eagerness tonight that Seongwu can’t seem to shake off. A errant need whereby he wants to prove something by getting Minhyun off to the best of his abilities. 

He concentrates on how _non-romantic_ he feels currently towards Minhyun as he pulls his fingers out to massage his hands along Minhyun’s thighs, running them over the supple flesh and Minhyun releases another tiny moan. 

Seongwu has never seen another pair of thighs more glorious than Minhyun’s and soon, he would love for the greatest legs known to man, be wrapped around his waist. 

However, first things first—

Seongwu leans down to place a soft kiss along Minhyun’s spine who is currently on all fours, and before slowly dragging his lips down, agonisingly slow until they reach the cleft of Minhyun’s ass. Nosing his way along the plumpness, Seongwu peppers more little kisses over the delicate area.

“Seongwu—!” Minhyun’s call of his name ends in a high pitched intonation, mewling a little when Seongwu takes the opportunity to lean in and give one wet swipe of his tongue over Minhyun’s fluttering rim. And then, another one. “Oh— _Oh_ , I don’t think I can handle this.” 

“Hypersensitive there today, huh?” A mischievous grin stretches across Seongwu’s lips. It’s always a good feeling whenever Minhyun is at his mercy instead, and it would be so easy to break the other just by continuing to do what he’s doing, but tonight… he has other plans.

“You try it, and tell me you can take it better than me,” Minhyun huffs out, face turning to the right, cheek resting on the pillow. Seongwu still can’t believe how entirely gorgeous one man’s profile can be, especially when it’s attached to a body that has all but given himself up to him. 

A quick chortle leaves Seongwu. “I think it might be wise that we take a rain check on the rimming. Got more important things to do with the best ass in the world. C’mere.” He gives Minhyun’s butt cheeks one last gentle palming before flipping him over. 

And in hindsight, Seongwu shouldn’t have done that, especially when he is faced with Minhyun staring directly right at him. 

It’s not like Minhyun hasn’t been here before, like this—but there’s something strangely _different_ when Seongwu looks now at Minhyun with renewed focus, as if he’s never had the chance to properly look before—to appreciate the line of Minhyun’s nose, or the length of his eyelashes, or even worse, the way that Minhyun looks like everything Seongwu has ever wanted. 

There’s a storm of emotions twisting inside him right now and Seongwu feels feverish. 

He wipes the residue from his fingers on to the sheets, before reaching over to roll on a condom.

Seongwu teases the tip of his sheathed cock at Minhyun’s entrance for a moment, before finally, sliding in when Minhyun’s rim stretches to give way to the pressure. Fully seated inside Minhyun, Seongwu takes slow inhales through his nostrils in an attempt to control his breathing.

He runs his hands along Minhyun’s long legs to soothe when he sees the way that Minhyun’s eyelids are squeezed shut and his fingers are fisted on the crumpled sheets. Seongwu tilts his hips back slightly, before pushing forward once more, which elicits another little broken sound.

“You good?” Seongwu breaths out.

“Just—peachy—” Minhyun voice sounds strained to Seongwu. “You can definitely keep going— _oh_ —god— _holy shit_.” There’s pink blush spread all the way across Minhyun’s chest, to his ears as always and Seongwu uses his hand to lift Minhyun’s leg up, to drape it over his shoulder.

“What? You said to keep going.” Seongwu uses whatever leverage his has to grind in deeper, to thrust the head of his cock against Minhyun’s prostate, once, twice, and relishes the way that Minhyun is continually rendered speechless. “Just following orders.” 

“I created a monster. Fuck you.” The words slip out of Minhyun, but the moment they do, the both of them can’t keep from bursting into simultaneous laughter at the déjà vu felt from the last time that Seongwu had been the one to curse the exact same phrase at Minhyun instead. 

Seongwu can’t help but be reminded how easy it is between them. 

But as their laughter dies down, it also reminds him of how long it’s been since they’ve really even kept score or just thought about the game. And truthfully? Seongwu is not even sure they’re playing a game anymore—hasn’t done so for months now, which makes his stomach twist, tying up in sailor knots.

The worrying thought continues sits like a heavy anchor on his chest. 

It’s fine— _it has to be fine_ , Seongwu tells himself. 

That’s why they’re here like this, right? Seongwu with the desire to give Minhyun the best fucking of his life, _not_ to ask him out on a date.   

So, it doesn’t matter if they don’t have the game as an excuse anymore since it shouldn’t change anything. Because, end of story, Seongwu does _not_ in fact have feelings or a crush or whatever you want to term it, for Hwang Minhyun. 

When Seongwu realizes that Minhyun is shooting him a quizzical glance at the way that he has essentially frozen in place, still inside Minhyun, he shakes his head—shaking off the remnants of his overloaded thoughts.

“Well, you’re right. This _was_ all your fault in the first place,” Seongwu says softly before turning his head, places his lips on the underside of Minhyun’s knee, to kiss directly on the skin of the curve. He nuzzles his cheek, rubbing against it like a cat which causes Minhyun to giggle.  

The noise shoots straight to Seongwu’s chest. _Fuck_.

“That tickles—” Minhyun immediately retracts his leg from its position to rearrange himself, so both limbs are placed on either side of Seongwu, and Seongwu uses this chance to reach forward to cup Minhyun’s jaw with his palm, and swipes a thumb over Minhyun’s bottom lip. 

He doesn’t mean to make it feel controlling, rather, more an exploratory type of move, and soon Minhyun sucks the digit into his mouth reflexively. Shivering as Minhyun gives it a bit of attention, Seongwu is soon emboldened to lean down, hovering his lips over Minhyun’s mouth as he removes his thumb from the wet heat.

Their gazes match for a long pause. Seongwu’s heart thumps. 

“Can—I kiss you?” 

Minhyun groans, the warm puff of his breath hitting against Seongwu. “Of course. I've been waiting years for you to do that.” 

Seongwu’s lip corner curves, and he allows their lips to melt into one another as they have done, so often in the past few months. But this time, as their tongues stroke together, slow and languorous, something further rears its head—to continue to flicker deep within Seongwu’s chest. 

He immediately tries to suppress it down, to forget it by reaching down to wrap his hand around Minhyun’s cock, which has been sitting there hard, and patient—leaking precum and making a small mess already all over his flat stomach. 

To do what they do best. 

Swirling the pad of his thumb over the dip on the end, Seongwu gathers up the rest of the slick and glides his palm down the length.  

The sounds that Minhyun make now are wanton and so very desperate. Seongwu’s hips jerk at the noise, the sensations elicited by the noise shooting straight to his groin, reminding him again exactly why they’re here. “Wanna see you come.”  

He releases his grasp, only to guide Minhyun’s hand to it. 

Resuming his previous thrusting, Seongwu tries to match it with the way Minhyun is stroking himself now. Seongwu is left breathless and dizzy, feeling like he could probably die happily just like this because all he can feel is the way that Minhyun is fully surrounding him.  

He’s not sure if it’s been minutes, or hours, where Seongwu has just been reverently worshipping Minhyun every which way, and when he attempts to clear his mind a little, again, it sends him into a bit of panic, with the way everything lately has just—all felt too comfortable; too _intimate_. 

But, he’s left barely enough time to make sense of the thoughts that pollute his brain, when the combination of the way he fucks into Minhyun without abandon, his name on Minhyun’s lips, and finally, the ensuing way that Minhyun gives in, which soon then triggers Seongwu’s own orgasm. 

Soon, there’s nothing but white spots flashing in his vision, and Seongwu swears there is a ringing in his ear that only dissipates when—

“Seongwu?” 

Seongwu lets out an unintelligible, vague sounding groan. “Am I dead? ‘Cos I think you definitely killed me.” 

Minhyun snickers lightly, and pokes at Seongwu’s cheek. “Yeah, I’m an angel.” He then moves to prop himself directly on Seongwu’s chest which serves to cause a small whoosh of breath to escape from him. “Also, the way you just combusted my own brain, 10/10.” 

“Ah, finally, I’m getting the full, positive rating from Hwang Minhyun,” Seongwu teases lightly. It’s easier to maintain this type of dynamic, rather than to think about the way his heart continues to keep pounding, the longer he and Minhyun remain like this.

No reminders of the game—nor about winning or losing, just simply Seongwu, and Minhyun right there next to each other.

They continue to trade jokes with each other as they clean up—the kind of atmosphere that he’s always found he’s never had to ever struggle to find, with Minhyun, and as Seongwu is throwing his black sweatpants back on, Minhyun suddenly says, “Almost forgot, I have something for you.” 

“Yeah?”  

Minhyun goes to open his desk drawer. Seongwu assumes it’s just an object that he clumsily left behind one dance practice, or a bottle of multi-vitamins that Sungwoon-hyung has been swearing by lately, but he’s surprised when he sees a thin, leather bound book instead. 

“Remember when I went to Seongsu-dong to meet some friends the other week? I saw this in a bookstore and thought you’d like it.” 

Seongwu takes it in his hands, and fingers brushing against Minhyun’s causing a tiny electric spark to race up his arm. He turns it over to reveal the cover of an anthology of pieces by his favorite poets. 

Minhyun and him have traded some thoughts over certain works in the past, but he didn’t think Minhyun would have even really thought about him in this manner, let alone purchase this when it’s not even close to his birthday. 

“Thank you,” Seongwu says simply, because he doesn’t know what else to say. 

Minhyun just smiles in return and at the sight of it? Seongwu’s heart flips.  

Oh, _fuck_. 

_Fuckity-fuck._

Minhyun has already climbed back into bed, looking cozy and expectant whilst Seongwu is still standing in the middle of the bedroom awkwardly, clutching the book to his chest. It’s only when Minhyun softly says, “Come here,” that Seongwu is unable to resist, as usual.  

Seongwu settles in, allowing Minhyun to once again rest his face on his bare chest, having forgotten to throw on his t-shirt after receiving the gift—the skin to skin contact making him shiver slightly. He attempts to distract both of them by flicking to a random page to read out loud. 

Soon, his recitation trickles to a crawl, both on the precipice of sleep. Their breaths automatically begin to sync up, with the way that Minhyun is probably feeling every rise and fall with each inhale and exhale. 

Seongwu tenses. 

Internally, Seongwu hopes that Minhyun can’t feel the way that his heart still rapidly pounds—metaphorically skipping a beat every time he looks at Minhyun’s profile, and no matter how much he tries to ignore it, Seongwu knows it’s not from the previous exertion but from _something else_. 

There’s this incessant, nagging part of him that wants to just prolong this moment—to preserve it within himself forever and he can’t shake it off. 

This is not how it’s really supposed to be. Seongwu is unfortunately aware that their relationship has never been quite the way he’s wanted it to be from the beginning and he’s still not entirely sure what to do with himself, what to do with Minhyun.  

It makes his head spin and his ribs tighten. 

He’ll—just think about it tomorrow because right now, all Seongwu can concentrate on is the way that Minhyun snuffles slightly and lets his fist curl into a ball, next to his own nose, directly over the traitorous piece of anatomy that Seongwu possesses.

The same heart that has somehow already seemingly carved a home for Minhyun despite Seongwu’s best efforts otherwise. 

 

 

 

✗

 

 

 

A week later, and Seongwu is still apparently nowhere closer in figuring out why his stupid heart keeps doing that stupid pitter-pattering thing whenever he sees Minhyun. It’s been driving Seongwu crazy, and constantly being around Minhyun doesn’t help. 

They’ve continued to be busy though, so full of schedules that it leaves Seongwu exhausted and overwhelmed. They haven’t even had the time to barely speak to one another, other than in passing, let alone de-stress in their normal way.

“You’re going to catch a cold if you continue lying like that.” Minhyun’s soft, chiding voice interrupts Seongwu’s thoughts.  

Speak of the devil. 

“W—What?” Seongwu peels open his eyes, as he sits back up from the bed that he’s lying on. _Daniel’s_ , who is currently playing games with Jihoon, and Seongwu had been too lazy to climb up to his own after his shower. He’d been planning just to rest there for a few minutes. 

“Your hair is probably dripping all over Daniel’s peach cushions.” 

Seongwu involuntarily reaches a hand up to his head, which reminds him of the dampness, and of the forgotten towel that is sitting slung around his neck. “It’s fine, it’s just water. It’ll dry fine on it’s own. Anyway, what are you doing here?” 

Minhyun stays standing at the doorway, leaning against the frame. “Got bored,” he finally says. A small pause before— “Missed you.” 

If it were any other night, Seongwu probably would have made a quick joke out of it about how he’s very missable, or not even said anything and they would have just fallen into their habits, but tonight, Seongwu’s stomach actually somersaults hearing that. 

He doesn’t know if he’s just reading way too much into the situation now that he’s been forced to re-evaluate everything, contemplating whether Minhyun is just saying that because he misses the physicality, rather than _him,_ and that puts Seongwu immediately on edge. 

“I—uh, can we take a rain-check? I’m feeling really tired today,” Seongwu hears himself saying. He regrets it the moment they leave his mouth because he doesn’t want Minhyun to think that he’s rejecting him at all. He just needs to—

Minhyun arches an eyebrow. “Jumping the gun a bit, aren’t you? I didn’t even offer.” 

Seongwu colors a little, feeling his cheeks go warm. He mumbles, “Sorry—you just said you missed me so, I just—assumed.” 

There’s a very small moment of awkward silence before a forced burst of laughter comes through. 

“Don’t hurt yourself apologizing. I’m just kidding. I mean, I know what we are to each other,” Minhyun replies breezily. Their eyes collide together and Seongwu is uncertain how to proceed from here because Minhyun’s words—they surprisingly hurt more than he thought they would. 

He doesn’t know exactly what Minhyun is playing at, and isn’t sure he wants to find out either. 

So, Seongwu decides on something safe. 

“Well… I was just about to put a movie on. Wanna watch then? _”_ Seongwu offers before shrugging casually. “I mean, at the very least we’re friends, right? Friends can do that, and we’ve done it before. Just no other stuff tonight, alright?”  

“Ah, right. Friends,” Minhyun replies, repeating the word slowly. He says it as if dragging the word out, rolling it around his tongue and to Seongwu’s ear there seems to be a semi-wistful quality to his tone of voice but Seongwu just shakes his head. 

Daniel’s made him begin imagining things. 

Seongwu already regrets extending the invitation because it means another few hours in Minhyun’s company and Seongwu is probably going to pass out from all the mental calculations regarding what Minhyun is to him, however it’s too late because Minhyun accepts. “Sure.” 

“You can grab my laptop and choose what you want to watch then. I don’t really care.” Seongwu stands up to drag both the pillows and blankets off the bunk beds to place on the carpet. He comfortably situates himself as he watches Minhyun set up the laptop and projector.  

The way that Minhyun moves is efficient, smooth and with purpose. And as always, he still looks pretty tonight, even if he’s just wearing a simple white t-shirt and the tackiest pyjamas bottoms—the one that Jaehwan had bought them a long time ago. 

His hair’s a complete mess—but it’s tousled and soft, and it’s a look that always works for Minhyun. 

Seongwu curses under his breath because he doesn’t know why his heart is skittering quickly, merely from looking at Minhyun. He doesn’t even have the excuse of hormones at seeing Minhyun’s abs or whatever, but this… this is what he wanted to test out right? 

He ignores himself. When he sees Minhyun scrolling through the list of potentials, he says out loud “Maybe not something too intelligent, I don’t think my brain can take it tonight.” 

“Okay, but can your brain take it _any_ night—“ Seongwu’s towel comes flying at the half-turned Minhyun who brings one hand up just a little late in reflex to defend himself. The fabric hits his face, but when Minhyun pulls it away, he’s laughing again. “You’re too easy, Ongie.” 

Seongwu huffs, but there’s a small glow firing up within him. He shoots back, “Hurry up. I’m going to fall asleep with how slow you’re being.” 

There’s no further verbal response from Minhyun, his back still facing Seongwu but soon, the opening intro of the film Minhyun picks plays, and Minhyun returns to the makeshift blanket pile to crawl in beside Seongwu. 

Seongwu is focused on the flickering scenes, when suddenly he feels the towel scrub furiously at his head. 

“What’re you doing—” Seongwu chokes out amidst the laughter he can’t help from emitting. Typical Minhyun and his typical Minhyun ways.

“From experience, if and when you get sick, you’re going to keep whining and I don’t think anyone can handle that so I’m just doing my part to prevent it.” Seongwu snorts at Minhyun’s reasoning, but he just lets his head hang slightly forward so that Minhyun can continue his task. 

They lapse back into comfortable silence, and it’s kinda soothing actually, the way that Minhyun has slowed the towelling down to a gentle rubbing instead, and the fact that Seongwu relishes the way that Minhyun is doing something for him—taking care of him. 

Truthfully, he’s totally been completely overlooking the way that Minhyun does a lot for him. The way that the other always makes sure to straighten up Seongwu’s collar, or brings him a towel or drink bottle whenever Seongwu is out of breath on stage, even before he can ask for it. 

And then doing things like this—drying his hair, for god’s sake.

But thinking back through all the moments he’s missed before, collating the memories into a safe section in his mind, Seongwu shivers slightly, especially combined with the way that they are soon lying side by side—limbs almost touching but not quite. 

The movie—if he has to be two hundred percent honest—it’s probably one of the dumbest he’s _ever_ been subjected to. 

Seongwu is uncertain how and _why_ someone like Minhyun is so absolutely enthralled by it, but he still finds himself chuckling at the way Minhyun mimics Optimus Prime’s voice and looks so riveted at every single scene, even though Seongwu knows the other has watched it twenty times over.   

On occasion, Seongwu manages to catch a glimpse of the childish innocence and glee presented on Minhyun’s face highlighted by the light coming from the screen; happiness at liking something so wholeheartedly, which in turn makes Seongwu want to like it as well, despite everything. 

It makes Seongwu realize that he wants to find out exactly everything that Minhyun likes, and whether…Seongwu himself, is included in that list.

And then— a thought hits him like a punch directly in the gut. 

Something that he’s probably always known, but has been trying to blatantly brush aside: 

Seongwu like, _likes_ Minhyun. 

Seongwu likes Minhyun, despite not fucking him, or getting fucked by him right this moment. 

Likes the way Minhyun knows him well enough to buy him a poetry book, likes the way that Minhyun is so talkative and how he can make him laugh harder than anyone else, likes the way that Minhyun is really so sweet and so thoughtful like no other, and just likes Minhyun, regardless of all his numerous flaws.  

Likes Minhyun in the way that he’s so much more than just a fuck buddy to him. Likes Minhyun as a group member, a treasured friend, and simply—a person that he would still want in his life, even after disbandment comes and goes.  

Most of all, Seongwu likes Minhyun in a romantic sense. Likes Minhyun so much that he wants to be able to wake up every day and just roll over to plant kisses all over Minhyun’s face and lips, and wants to be the one person that Minhyun comes to, not just for sex but for everything else.  

Likes Minhyun because Minhyun makes Seongwu feel everything under the sun—makes him feel like he’s _someone_ —like he’s able to be loved. 

It’s non-negotiable just how important Hwang Minhyun has become to Ong Seongwu.

Realizing all of this, Seongwu knows he should probably say it out loud, confess it immediately to Minhyun, but in spite of the revelation, Seongwu remains quiet, unable to bring up the courage to bare his heart to someone who only started messing around with him because of a game.

So with _that_ , Seongwu sits up quickly when the movie ends with perfect timing, throwing back the duvet. He runs a hand through his hair and mumbles stiltedly, “Thanks for the movie recommendation. I guess you better go to sleep.” 

Minhyun blinks owlishly. Seongwu wants to take back his decision when he sees the confused expression, because he knows usually they both haven’t cared about _just_ sleeping together despite the earlier boundaries of their relationship and it shouldn’t change now. 

But the trouble is that, everything has changed, from the moment they had started this game—  

“We have an early start tomorrow so we should get our rest, and I’m sure Daniel will probably be back soon.” It all logic here, and Seongwu knows Minhyun is even more logical than him, but for some inexplicable reason Seongwu thinks he can spy disappointment. 

But the moment he blinks, the expression disappears and Seongwu is left curious and wondering. 

“Ah. You’re right—that—probably is for the best,” Minhyun answers as he stands up. He sounds tired anyway, like he needs to sleep for three days straight and Seongwu reassures himself that this is the only option. “Well, goodnight then Seongwu. Sleep well.” 

“Goodnight Minhyun,” Seongwu calls out softly.

The door clicks quietly and when Seongwu slides back into his own bed, he can’t help but question just how much of a screwed up situation he’s managed to find himself in.  

 

 

 

✗

 

 

 

From: Ong Seongwu 

i hate you so much

 

From: Kang Daniel 

but you love minhyun-hyung i’m assuming? ;)

 

From: Ong Seongwu  

sdjkjkjds shut up

 

From: Kang Daniel 

 say it, say i was right

 

From: Ong Seongwu    

attached: never.mp3 

 

From: Kang Daniel 

i can’t believe you’re using our song on me  
do it or i’ll sic jihoon on you

 

From: Ong Seongwu

insert aggravated sigh  
FINE. you…were…  
right

 

 

From: Kang Daniel  


i told you so :B 

From: Ong Seongwu   

never buying you ramen ever again

 

From: Kang Daniel 

HYYUUUUUUUUUUUUUNNNNNNNGGGGGGG  
whatever, still gonna be best man at the wedding

 

 

 

✗

 

 

 

“Fine, so I admit it. I like Minhyun—”

“Thank god, finally.” Jihoon who is seated across from him, halfway playing a game on his phone, looks up to roll his eyes. “Since Daniel already ‘ _told you so’_ , I won’t rub it in since I’m a _nice_ person, but quick question, why the hell aren’t you guys officially dating yet then?” 

Seongwu lets his head thump forward on the table. 

It’s not like he hasn’t wanted to confess to Minhyun, but the idea of it—is the scariest thing he’s ever contemplated. He’s thought about how everything could go right, but how everything could also fall apart if Minhyun doesn’t quite reciprocate.

So, he’s just been avoiding Minhyun like the plague, and a heavy guilt sits over him like a thunder cloud. “Uh. He can’t find out.”

“You can’t keep this a secret forever, not when everyone else already knows!” Jihoon interjects. Seongwu shrinks back. Jihoon can be pretty forceful when he wants, and he never wants to incite his wrath. “We’re all in the same group, and ignoring him isn’t going to make this go away.” 

"How do you know that?” Seongwu demands stubbornly. “Maybe it’s just a phase and I don’t actually like _like_ him. Maybe I’ve been blinded by my own dick that it’s making me feel _something_ in here.” Seongwu rubs a fist on the left side of his chest. 

Jihoon just stares pityingly at him. “Sorry to break it to you, but your dick isn’t that powerful.”

Seongwu ignores Jihoon and continues babbling thoughtlessly, “Maybe, I just need to let all these weird feelings run its course, you know take some time out from Minhyun, stop seeing his stupid handsome face, stop thinking with my dick and I’m sure it’ll be all _fine_. ”

“Okay, that’s not how liking someone works. You don’t just get to turn it off by ghosting them, especially not if that person is a friend, and especially not if he’s Minhyun hyung,” Jihoon chastises and Seongwu winces because he knows that Jihoon is unfortunately right. 

His feelings are not a tap that he can simply turn off, and it’s unfair to keep them from Minhyun, and continue like they have been.

Or worse—ignore Minhyun.

But the idea of even speaking to Minhyun about everything—the game, their future—makes it feel like his internal organs are being thrown around against his will, making him feel anxious and nervous and just all worked up at the idea that Minhyun will _reject_ him. 

And there is it: in bright, flashing lights; the worry that Minhyun only started this game to fool around with Seongwu, and probably never expected that Seongwu would have caught such intense feelings like this.

“What do you suggest I do then?” Seongwu almost wails. 

“Maybe just—tell him?” Jihoon lets out a sigh, before pursing his lips. “I’m with Niel hyung on this. I’m ninety percent sure he already liked you well before playing this game—a game, that by the way, hyung, I’d say you are probably the only one dumb enough to agree to it.” 

“Park Jihoon—” Seongwu threatens, “I hope one day Woojin finally kicks your ass so far into hell that you get a taste of your own medicine.”

Jihoon waves one hand dismissively and goes back to his game. It’s not long before he sighs once more and puts his phone away. “Firstly, you mean _I’ll_ kick Woojin’s ass. And secondly, have you seen the way Minhyun hyung looks at you? It makes me want to throw up, and then maybe find someone who will look at me that way too.”

“That, is some kind of strong emotion. “Please elaborate on it.”

“It’s hard to explain, but Minhyun hyung’s eyes get all soft, gooey and drips with fondness whenever you do something dumb—”

“Stop referring to what I do as dumb!” 

“—sorry, bad habit—I mean, do something _Seongwu hyung-like_ , like something clumsy or unexpected, and Minhyun hyung is one of the only ones that usually bursts into laughter, or praises you all the time. It’s like he obviously knows that you always worry about your jokes or your ment, and wants you to feel like _you_ matter. Haven’t you noticed?” 

There’s a fluttering within him listening to Jihoon speak.

Well, of course Seongwu had noticed the extra attention, even prior to starting the game, but to Seongwu, all it means is that Minhyun is a nice guy. The nicest person, who is also charming and pretty, and could probably get with anyone, purely because he’s Hwang Minhyun. 

Not because Minhyun has _feelings_ for him. 

“Jihoon-ah, that doesn’t necessarily mean anything. Unless you’ve actually asked him outright, you can’t be sure of that fact. But— it’s fine.” Seongwu presses down on his eyes with the pads of his palm. “Okay, let me think…I already know that I like Minhyun…”

“Yes,” Jihoon drawls. “I think we’ve established that a long time ago.” 

Seongwu pays no heed to Jihoon, stewing in his own conclusion.

He deliberates aloud carefully, “I like Minhyun, and even if he doesn’t like me back—” Seongwu’s heart pinches at the possibility (one he doesn’t care for, but still has to be prepared about), “—I still want to be friends with him, so I should tell him before this gets too messed up for even that.” 

Even though Seongwu’s not quite ready to give everything up yet, he can work with not kissing Minhyun (though an outright and utter shame)… but giving up Minhyun completely? That’s definitely not going to happen if he has an active choice in the matter.

“Mhm, that’s what we’ve all been telling you to do, so nice of you to finally come to this conclusion,” Jihoon replies drolly but he does give Seongwu a fatherly pat on the arm. “Actually, I’m glad you like Minhyun hyung. Even though I give you a lot of shit, you’re one of the best hyungs I’ve ever come to know, and Minhyun hyung deserves someone like you, liking him.” 

Seongwu peers back at Jihoon, unable to conceal the silly grin that has stretched across his face. “What is this, soft hours?” 

Jihoon grumbles, “I can be nice when I want.” But he spouts a laugh, a soft string of noise that fills Seongwu’s ears. “I just really want both of you to be happy.” It’s adorable, the way that Jihoon says it so eagerly, so wholesomely making Seongwu feel an intense amount of endearment for his younger friend. “And, you guys are happy _together._ I wish you both would see it.”

Seongwu stands up.

“C’mere.” Seongwu gathers the other male into his arms, slowly stroking Jihoon’s hair. It’s a rare moment where they have displayed any sentimentality towards each other, but it’s such a nice feeling and Seongwu understands why Minhyun likes showering others with affection. 

It’s in this position that Minhyun finds them. 

“Am I interrupting something?” Minhyun’s calm but surprisingly shy voice filters through and Seongwu looks up to see both his biggest nightmare and best dream standing before them. He gulps down, having dreaded this moment since he's come to terms with his heart. 

But he knows what he has to do. 

Disentangling himself from Jihoon, Seongwu tugs on his sleeve as a silent thank you. 

Jihoon nods conspiratorially at him, piping up, “Nope, you’re not interrupting us. Seongwu hyung was struggling with something, so it seemed like a hug was the answer. But you can have him now, if you want.” 

Minhyun’s sharp eyes flick over to catch Seongwu’s gaze. “Did it help then? The hug?” 

Jihoon has wisely made himself scarce pretty fast, leaving just the pair of them in the room. There’s an undercurrent of tension, palpable in the air, as Minhyun stares at him and just by the look alone, Seongwu’s heart goes again into overdrive. 

How did he think he was ever going to just ignore Minhyun forever? 

He’s ruined. 

Seongwu is so nervous, he can barely breath. His brain is telling him that this is the perfect time where he’s supposed to confess his feelings to Minhyun, but for some reason, his tongue is stuck against the roof of his mouth. 

“I’ll take that as a no.” Minhyun is first to say something. “Want to try it again?”

“I—What?” Seongwu is puzzled. 

“A hug. Want me to give you one and see if it makes you feel any better?” Minhyun doesn’t really leave Seongwu time to answer before he’s striding across the room to wrap his arms around Seongwu, whose own arms automatically circles around Minhyun’s lithe waist. 

It’s like coming home, the way their bodies just meld against one another’s, parts fitting like a puzzle. 

Seongwu sighs into it, almost as if allowing all of the stress he’s been harbouring flow out. They haven’t been _together_ , together, not since before their last movie night and this hug just reiterates how much yearning Seongwu has, for the comfort that Minhyun’s touch always brings him. 

But now, it also makes Seongwu feel even more confused. Confused wondering whether Minhyun merely thinks of them as just a game. 

“I’m sorry I’ve been distant and kept giving you excuses about not wanting to hang out,” Seongwu apologizes, words muffled into Minhyun’s hair. 

Minhyun leans back, and Seongwu immediately misses the warmth he exudes when they step apart, to leave some distance between them. 

“It’s fine. We should probably… talk now though.” Minhyun tilts his head in question.

“I guess you’re right.” Seongwu feels the sharper edges of his fingernails pressing into his palm when he makes a fist, trying to forestall the inevitable. Garnering all the courage he has, he blurts out, “I—really like you, Minhyun.”

Minhyun looks a bit dumbfounded before he replies slowly, “I like you too?”

It comes out more as question rather than a statement and Seongwu can’t quite be sure if Minhyun understands the underlying meaning, rather than taking it as face value about liking him as a person in general. He groans internally. 

“No, I mean I really _like_ you and I didn’t think I would develop feelings when playing this game but I _have_ , and I’m just—I’m sorry. It’s been eating me up inside, to keep this huge secret from you, but I didn’t want you to feel uncomfortable with me, so yeah—that’s why I haven’t been wanting to hang out recently because I didn't know how to tell you,” Seongwu finishes in a rush, throat dry. 

There’s a stunned look on Minhyun’s face, as if he didn’t quite expect this, and Seongwu almost wants to melt down below the ground because he can’t decipher whether Minhyun is taking this well or not. Damn Hwang Minhyun and his stone face at times. 

He’s going to go insane soon waiting for Minhyun. 

“Um, are you going to say something?” Seongwu coughs awkwardly, then licks his lips. “Actually, no, you don’t have to reply. I just wanted to get it off my chest. I probably shouldn’t be dumping this on you, but yeah. The avoidance thing… is probably… worse.”

Minhyun now looks as if Seongwu just sprouted three heads, and Seongwu takes a step back in his attempt to escape.

This prompts Minhyun to take one forward in return, to stretch out an arm as if to hold Seongwu back but it merely grasps more at air rather than body, fingertips brushing his chest slightly.“Wait!” Seongwu so desperately wants to just crawl back into Minhyun’s arms. 

Having Minhyun in that one previous way would be better than nothing—which seems to be the option materializing currently but honestly, Seongwu isn’t upset at himself for telling Minhyun how he felt. But at least this way he doesn’t have to think about the constant ‘what ifs’. 

Heat flushes in Seongwu’s cheeks though—but more out of disappointment and sadness rather than embarrassment.

Minhyun’s voice cuts in, “Let’s—call off the game?” 

Seongwu had run through all the options in his mind, considered what Minhyun would say, or wouldn’t say. By all calculations, this was the one recourse that he’d figured was most likely going to happen, especially if Minhyun wasn’t going to respond positively to Seongwu’s confession, but the actuality of it taking place right now still comes as a bullet to the chest. 

“You want to call it off completely,” Seongwu repeats, allowing his voice to remain calm, deceptively so, despite the fact that on his inside, everything is crashing. Minhyun not returning his feelings, wanting to end the game, but still wanting to be friends.

This, is the best course of action, he tells himself.

So, Seongwu should be happy. 

Except, why does it hurt so much instead? Why does it hurt to be directly faced with the knowledge that Minhyun simply thought of all of this as just a game to him and to know how easily he can to walk away with no lingering affliction to his own heart. 

Seongwu lets out an airy, shaky laugh. It sounds fake to his ears. 

“Ah, yeah, of course.” Seongwu continues quickly, in an attempt to not allow them to get to that awkward stage, “I guess we’ve been kinda way over our heads with the game and you’re right that it’s probably better to go back to being just friends.”

“Hold on— Friends?” Minhyun interjects forcefully, a frown on his brow. 

“Yes—?” Seongwu pauses, the rest of his spiel getting caught midway in his throat. 

_Did he not want to?_

He’s wondering whether he did something wrong when he hears Minhyun mutter under his breath, “Wow, you really are the densest person I know.” 

Wait, _what_? 

“No, seriously, we can stay friends right?” Seongwu pleads, barrelling on. “I don’t want to lose you Minhyun. I know that there’s only a few months left in the contract but even if you don’t want to keep doing all the extra stuff, I still want us to be friends, just like how we were before—”

“Seongwu,” Minhyun says simply. “Take this in the nicest way possible, but please shut up for a second.”

Seongwu shuts up immediately. His hand is shaking a little, and Minhyun places his own on Seongwu’s to lace them together, to ground him.

Minhyun continues, “I thought you would get it, but it seems I have to spell this out for you.” There’s a weirdly _happy_ expression flickering on Minhyun’s face and Seongwu feels like, maybe, his heart has completely stopped working at the sight of it. “I want to stop playing this game with you, but I don’t want to remain as _just friends._ ”

“You—you don’t?” Seongwu stalls, as if he’s the slowest person in the world who can’t get his brain to focus, nor keep up. 

“No, of course not! Because I want to be _more_ than just friends.”

“ _Oh_ ,” is all Seongwu can breath out. Maybe Jihoon was right, and he really is the dumbest person alive.

There’s a long pause. Then a sigh.

“Communication seems to be our downfall, huh,” Minhyun comments dryly. 

“It does look like we probably have to work on that.” Seongwu rubs his neck. “Obviously, I don’t want to just be friends either.” He sucks in a breath. “Because I like you so much that I’d choose you over anyone else. I want to keep getting dinner with you, and smell your nice shampoo whenever we sleep, and be the only person that can tolerate the way that you can’t stop talking in the middle of the night, and the fact that you’re actually kind of weird at times because it’s cute. You’re cute.”

Minhyun’s ears are red hot in front of him, and Seongwu feels like a weight has semi-lifted off his chest. Swallowing, he looks at the way that emotions flash all across Minhyun’s face before the other exhales, loud and shuddery. 

“Do you want to know the real reason why I started playing this game with you, and not with anyone else?” There’s an intense expression on Minhyun’s face, and Seongwu is curious to hear the rest of his answer. “It’s because I liked you right from the beginning.” 

“You…liked _me_ from the beginning?” Seongwu sounds like a broken record. But  _holy shit_ , what?

“Yes, I liked you all along because how could I not?" Minhyun replies as if Seongwu should have known.

"Give me a moment, this is so surreal." Seongwu rubs his eyes with the back of his hands. Pinches himself, and when Minhyun sees it, he surrenders a laugh, his own eyes glassy and bright.

"I like you, Ong Seongwu,” Minhyun enunciates clearly. “Like, really like you." He shrugs. "I like you when you're being dumb like this, like you when you're being sentimental and poetic in capturing all the fans hearts. Like you when you try your hardest in everything you attempt whether it's singing or dancing or acting because your passion is so beautiful, and like you especially when you do that thing with your tongue—” The rest get stifled when Seongwu shoves a hand over Minhyun's mouth.

"Shut up, oh my god, you're so dumb too." 

"We're a pair, aren't we?" Minhyun kisses Seongwu's palm that's still hovering near his lips.

Seongwu's blood rushes to his head, and he’s made fully aware of that constant heaviness to his heart again before he realizes that the heaviness is Minhyun in itself.

Seongwu’s always had Minhyun right there, within him. He just needed to open his eyes.

Despite the increasing warmth seeping through his every pore from the knowledge that Minhyun feels the same way as him, Seongwu has a burning question before they can move on from this. “Why didn’t—you just tell me to begin with? Ask me out?”

Minhyun bows his head down a little, a guilty expression forming.

“Don’t you start as well. Aaron hyung already told me I was stupid when I told him I had started playing the game with you. But honestly? I thought it was the only way to push you into the idea, since you didn’t really see me in that way at all, and truthfully, I didn’t think it would take you this long to realize how I actually felt for you. And guess we both got kinda wrapped up in the game.” 

“So, when you said you missed me the other day, you really meant it?” Seongwu asks, voice barely more than just a whisper now.

“Okay, I can’t believe you would think that we could ever just be friends with benefits,” Minhyun complains, growling. Seongwu feels the way that Minhyun clamps down even tighter on his hand. “We were already pretty much dating, you idiot.”

“That’s what Daniel and the others said.” Seongwu laments, looking down at his feet. He groans another time before lifting his chin to give Minhyun a rueful smile. “All the kissing, and the late night talking, and just being with you—I’m the most oblivious person on the planet, apparently.” 

“It’s my fault too,” Minhyun confesses himself. “The game was obviously my doing and it forced you out of your comfort zone. When you started to come around to the idea of _me_ , I just… couldn’t bring myself to stop. Didn’t want to make things clear cut because it was so easy to treat this as a game—something that had no real stakes because that way you wouldn’t think being with me needed to be anything serious.”

Further realization dawns upon Seongwu. Everything makes more sense now with Minhyun's side of the story apparent. Seongwu answers, “Mhm. I didn’t know what to make of it, make of you to begin with, and didn’t mind the blurry lines because I didn’t have to come face to face with how I was really feeling. You’re right, it _felt_ easy—some fun that I thought was commitment and consequence free.”

“It wasn’t though.”

“No, it wan’t,” Seongwu agrees, nodding. “And no matter how much we may have wanted to pretend the game was just that, purely a game between us—it would never have been, just because of what we are to each other. And I’m sorry it took me forever to see that."

“I’m sorry too. This became all kinda messed up and I wish I did things differently—”

With Minhyun's statement, Seongwu can’t help but finally give in to the temptation of leaning in to press a soft kiss against Minhyun’s lips in order to eat up the rest of the words. Minhyun immediately responds back tenderly, then passionately, and Seongwu has to pinch himself to pull back, otherwise they’d be doing this all day.

“S’okay, you could never force me to do anything,” Seongwu replies, panting; fully enamoured with the man before him. “And, I probably would have never realized that my heart, you know has this _big fat crush_  for you, had you not got me to play this game, so thank you I guess.” He laughs. “Thank you for goading me, and I mean, well, we have to admit I gave in pretty easily considering how ignorant I was, so there must have always been something there already.”

“Have to say I was quite taken aback the day you dropped to your knees—”

Seongwu muffles the rest of Minhyun’s sentence with a bruising kiss this time before muttering, “I was seduced by the devil.” 

“Come on, you can’t put all the blame on me!” A soft laugh is weaved through Minhyun’s proclamation and it’s full of joy which puts Seongwu completely at ease now that he knows of their mutual reciprocation of feelings. “Maybe it would have taken fifty rounds but I knew you’d fall for my charms eventually,” Minhyun jokes.

Seongwu squints at Minhyun who blinks coquettishly with innocent eyes. “You’re the biggest fox, Minhyunnie. How does anyone survive you?”

“Good thing you’ll take the entire brunt of me then.”

“I sure am going to live regret ever telling you I like you, aren’t I? Your _ego_.”

Minhyun throws his head back in laughter. “Well, if it helps, I like you just as much, if not more.”

“Mhm,” Seongwu hums, warmth slowly spreading within him like sunshine spilling all over. “I’m going to make you say that every day.”

“Anyway, gotta admit, it was all pretty fun, huh?” Minhyun’s eyes twinkle, becoming half moons as he breaks out into an even brighter smile. “Although, we both really kind of failed at the actual game part, since we could barely even keep score.” 

Seongwu stares at their joint hands, still linked together. It makes him feel relieved, but most of all, Seongwu just feels overwhelming happiness. He jokes, “I’m sure there’s always other games we can play, since I can get skinship from you anytime I want now.” 

“Jumping the gun again, aren’t we?” Minhyun shoots back at Seongwu, but there’s no hint of malice in his tone. 

“You’re right, I better not assume anything,” Seongwu says, leaning close. Their noses brush together as Seongwu places a small, butterfly kiss to the corner of Minhyun’s mouth. “Will you, Hwang Minhyun, please officially be my boyfriend?”

The next kiss that Minhyun gives him seals the deal, as does the firm, “Yes,” that Minhyun emphatically says against his lips. Their hand hold now breaks, only for Minhyun to press his palm to the curve of Seongwu’s cheek, cupping it gently. “I thought you’d never ask.” 

 

 

 

 

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> you made it! would you believe that this was supposed to have been under 5k and non-smut? ha! thank you for reading. kudos & comments are always appreciated if you enjoyed :)
> 
> huge thanks to d/c for being my general life betas/complaint absorbers and to j for the read through and the really valuable input with the first 2/3 and general direction of this piece. i couldn't have finished this without you guys!


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